Final evaluation of the SNV
Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE)
project in
Tanzania, Rwanda and Mozambique
Final report
June 2018
eMJee Consult
i
Table of Content
Acronyms ............................................................................................................ iv
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... vi
Executive summary: ............................................................................................ vii
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
2. Methodology ..................................................................................................... 1
3. Background and history ...................................................................................... 2
3.1. Design of the project .................................................................................... 2
3.2. Management structure .................................................................................. 4
3.3. Evolution..................................................................................................... 5
4. Starting point for the evaluation .......................................................................... 6
4.1. MTR findings summary ................................................................................. 6
4.2. Recommendations by the MTR team ............................................................... 8
4.3. Reorientation after the MTR ......................................................................... 10
4.4. The model evolvement................................................................................ 10
4.4.1. Shift of the emphasis in the model .......................................................... 10
4.4.2. The performance improvements after the MTR ......................................... 13
5. Findings after the MTR ..................................................................................... 23
5.1. Relevance ................................................................................................. 23
5.2. Effectiveness ............................................................................................. 27
5.3. Efficiency .................................................................................................. 31
5.4. Impact and outcomes ................................................................................. 37
5.5. Sustainability ............................................................................................. 38
5.6. Gender ..................................................................................................... 39
6. Conclusions..................................................................................................... 44
7. Lessons learned: ............................................................................................. 48
7.1. Lessons learned overall ............................................................................... 48
7.2. Lessons learned in each of the sectors .......................................................... 50
Annexes:
Annex 1: Findings Tanzania .................................................................................. 54
Annex 2: Findings Rwanda ................................................................................... 73
Annex 3: Findings Mozambique ............................................................................. 81
ii
Annex 4: Methodology of the evaluation. .............................................................. 103
Annex 5: Evaluation Matrix: assessed against current impact.................................. 107
Annex 6. Itinerary and the people met ................................................................ 121
Annex 7: Youth reached ..................................................................................... 131
Annex 8: ToR for OYE MCF ................................................................................. 132
Annex 9: Recommendations of MTR ..................................................................... 138
Annex 10: Result Framework .............................................................................. 142
Annex 11: Theory of Change according to MDF ..................................................... 144
Annex 12: People met ........................................................................................ 145
Figures:
Figure 1: Methodology steps ................................................................................... 2
Figure 2. Push-Match-Pull Diagram .......................................................................... 3
Figure 3: diagram of the OYE trajectory ................................................................... 5
Figure 4: Overview expenditure (Y1-Y5 Q2) per country in $..................................... 31
Figure 5: Overview of expenditure versus budget (Y1- Y 5 Q2) ................................. 32
Figure 6: Distribution of expenditures per country Y 1 to Y 5 Q2................................ 33
Figure 7: Overview of expenditure in $ by activity (Y1 – Y5 Q2) ................................ 34
Figure 8: Distribution of expenditure between the various program activities .............. 34
Figure 9: RE Rwanda per activity for Y1 to Y5 Q2 .................................................... 35
Figure 10: RE Tanzania per activity for Y1 to Y5 Q2 ................................................. 35
Figure 11: AG Mozambique per activity for Y1 to Y5 Q2 ............................................ 35
Figure 12: AG Tanzania per activity for Y1 to Y5 Q2 ................................................. 35
Figure 13: Comparison results against targets (male youth) ..................................... 42
Figure 14: Comparison results against targets (female Youth) ................................... 42
Figure 15: Corrected comparison results against targets (male youth) ....................... 43
Figure 16: Corrected comparison results against targets (female youth) ..................... 43
Figure 17. Set up of the collaboration with the different LSPs in Rwanda .................... 77
Tables:
Table 1: Implementation of the MTR recommendations and the results ...................... 14
Table 2: Results of enrolment, training and employment numbers ............................. 29
Table 3: Overall summary metrics ......................................................................... 30
Table 4: Key figures of the overall performance: ..................................................... 30
iii
Table 5: Efficiency of the program only considering the program specific expenses Y1-Y5
Q2 in US$ ........................................................................................................... 37
Table 6: Correction for compensating for more male enrolment and less female
enrolment .......................................................................................................... 44
Table 7: Lessons learned agricultural sector ............................................................ 52
Table 8: Lessons learned renewable energy sector .................................................. 53
iv
Acronyms
AG Agriculture
BDF Business Development Fund (Rwanda)
BDS Business Development Strengthening
BLS Basic Life Skills training
BRELA Business Registration and Licensing Agency
CIP Centro Internacional de la Papa
CRDB Commercial Bank
CTA Confederação das Associações Económicas de Moçambique
DGIS Directorate for international Cooperation (Netherlands)
ETG Export Trading Group
FAIJ Programa de Apoio a microcréditos juvenis
FI Financial Institution
FINCA Micro-finance bank Tanzania
FO Financial Officer
FYDP Five-Year Development Plan
GAPI Sociedade de investimentos
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation
GoT Government of Tanzania
ICS Improved Cook Stoves
INEP Instituto Nacional de emprego e formação profissional
ITTA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
LCBs Local Capacity Builders
LGA Local Government Authority
LSP Local Service Provider
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MCF MasterCard Foundation
MDF Management for Development Foundation
MFI Micro Finance Institution
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MSC(s) Most Significant Change (stories)
MTR Mid Term Review
NBDP National Biogas Development Program
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
OYE Opportunities for Youth Employment
PMP Push-Match-Pull
PS Private Sector
PSO Private Sector Organizations
PSP Private Sector Partners
PSP Private Sector Partners
RE Renewable Energy
v
SAT Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania
SDC Swiss Development Cooperation
SIDO Small Industries Development Organization
SNV Dutch Development Organization
TA Technical Advisor
TACADECO Tanzania Career Development Company
TAHA Tanzania Horticulture Association
ToC Theory of change
ToR Terms of Reference
ToT Trainer of Trainers
YLE Youth Led Enterprise
YSLA Youth Savings and Loans Association
vi
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation for having had the opportunity to learn to
know the OYE program from within, and to meet with these numerous enthusiastic
young people who are proud of what they have achieved and rightfully so. It is really
inspiring to realize that they are doing what we all find so very hard to do: to use the
very little resources you have to find opportunities to use them to generate more
revenues, step by step and in the end, fulfil your dream.
Therefore, we would like to thank Roy van de Drift, the overall Master of Strategic
choices, and his respective OYE teams in the three countries, in particular country
managers Anaclet and Soca for Rwanda and Mozambique respectively, and the sector
leaders, Marloes and Rashid in Tanzania, with their respective teams, who have been
instrumental for the accomplishments of this program and worthy discussion partners in
the debates about the multiple aspects of this program.
Special thanks go to Emma, Emmanuel, Jessica in Tanzania, Elvine, Polycarpe, Casper in
Rwanda and Zondai and Buchili in Mozambique for guiding us around, facilitating the
meetings with the youth and other stakeholders, translating our endless questions and
finding the words to capture what the answers were.
We have been much impressed by the Local Services Providers in the different countries
for their commitment and flexibility to adhere to this new program and their contribution
in the discussions.
We would also like to thank all the people we have met, such as National and Local
Government Officials, Private Sector Company leaders/ representatives and Financial
Institution agents for their time and willingness to answer our numerous questions.
Our appreciation goes to MasterCard Foundation for making this program possible.
vii
Executive summary:
SNV has implemented the program called Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE),
which was jointly developed with and funded by Mastercard Foundation (MCF) (2013-
2018). The OYE program had the ambitious goal to improve livelihoods, ways of
living and asset creation for 17,500 youths. The strategy of the program was to
identify 20,500 rural out-of-school youth and train them in market-relevant skills in
order to improve their employability (push factor). Once they had been trained in basic
life skills and business development, these youngsters are supported to enter into
internships or to start up youth-led enterprises (pull factor). The program also facilitated
market linkages/opportunities and access to start-up capital and investment funds for
the trained youth (match factor). The ultimate beneficiaries of the program are rural out-
of-school youth, with special attention for young women (often young mothers).
OYE has been implemented in three countries in East Africa, focusing on different
sectors, namely agriculture in Mozambique, renewable energy in Rwanda and agriculture
and renewable energy in Tanzania. The program is finalized in July 2018, hence the
current end of program evaluation.
The OYE project is not a traditional development project with a blueprint for the
implementation of the project framework. Due to the nature of its target group, namely
the rural out-of-school youth, the project had to be innovative, flexible, attractive to the
youth and generous to generate results and consolidate them.
Through close monitoring and regular assessments by MasterCard Foundation and SNV
management, the program has been able to evolve and flexibly applying the model in
the different countries that have to operate in quite different contexts and capacities of
possible partners. The results are impressive and promising for future programs.
An extensive Mid Term Review conducted in 2016 has established the progress and the
issues to improve of the program, which has contributed to the redirection of a number
of aspects:
• Investment in interesting private sector partners and development of agreements
• Finding more funding opportunities
• YSLAs strengthening
• Advanced BDS training
• Mentoring and coaching
• LSPs assessment, change of contracts and performance improvement
As a result, the current evaluation team has confirmed improvements made in the more
concrete application of the model and the performance improvements of the
implementing partners. Most of the 11 recommendations of the MTR team have been
followed and have had good impact.
viii
The evaluation criteria have, therefore, been assessed against what already had been
reported on. Either assessing the change in performance based on the recommendations
or confirming what was already achieved.
Relevance
The youth is a category of the population that is difficult to reach for the government
(and other stakeholders) and at the same time they are most vulnerable and in need of
support to start up their lives and contribute to the economy. The project offered a way
to connect to this category, mobilised them into groups and successfully guided them
through a trajectory that was interesting enough for them to adhere to. Considering the
numbers of youth that has not only found employment but also has been empowered to
find opportunities themselves, it can be concluded that the project, its approach and the
selected subsectors were relevant for the youth.
Effectiveness
Most of the targets have been reached by all three countries in terms of youth
enrolment, finished training, creation of YLEs and finding (self) employment. Some
interesting findings were that overall 81% of the youth found work after their training
and that 78% continued employment after they had entered it.
Efficiency
Assessing expenditure against budget of the whole project, varies between 86 %
(Tanzania) to 98% (Mozambique). It emerged that most budget was spent in years 2, 3
and 4 even though there has been an underspending in year 2.
The Push, Match and Expand (pull) factors have been assessed against spending and it is
observed that most expenditure has taken place in the PUSH budget, probably because
most budget was allocated there as well. There were slight differences between the
countries in emphasis on the different factors (push-match-pull) with Rwanda (RE) being
fully active in all three factors in year 4, Tanzania (RE) also coming close to each other,
while the matching factor in agriculture was clearly less strong than the push and the
pull, observed both in Mozambique and Tanzania.
The country projects had to adjust management of the projects to the country contexts
and available partners in terms of TA in support of LSPs, as well as LSPs per group,
sector and locality. The shift in year 2 to limit the number of LSPs per group and have
them follow the same group along the whole trajectory has increased efficiency as well
as performance.
Later on, the change to sign longer contracts (one year instead of three monthly) with
the LSPs and to base the payment on performance and results also has improved
efficiency and performance.
Impact
The youth that have gone through the trajectory have benefitted strongly from the OYE
trajectory. The transformation they have experienced from when they started with very
ix
little exposure, to the engagement and into (self-)employment was phenomenal.
Starting with change of mindset, and self-awareness through the BLS training, business
orientation, technical skills, to respective other trainings and mentoring, and group
security/leadership and access to loans through the YSLAs. They learned that with very
little money you can make more money and progressively build your life if you reinvest
part of what you have earned. These achievements were strengthened with coaching
and mentoring for the embedding of the skills, knowledge and empowerment of the
youth.
According to received statistics, OYE has helped 15,767 youth to enter employment in
the three countries and supported 716 new youth led enterprises to be established in the
last 5 years. The figures may fluctuate in time till end of July, however, it is clear that
the extent of outreach is very close to, or even over the targets of this very ambitious
project. Rwanda and Tanzania have come close to their targets of 97% in Rwanda with
renewable energy and in Tanzania 81% in agriculture and 93% in renewable energy
regarding the entered employment.
Sustainability
Most of the groups claim that they will continue after the phasing out of the project
especially with their YSLAs and because they have been empowered to assess the local
markets, master business development, assess risks, set prices and make profit,
especially the groups that have been evolving for more than a year, have a good chance
of surviving.
It is not sure how the relationship with the Private Sector Companies or the Financial
Institutions will hold, because many of them are just starting and have not yet fully
crystalized. With the Local Governments, there seems to be more opportunities for
longer term commitment depending on their own funding availability and (political)
priorities.
Gender
The project delayed in making specific efforts to involve women in the project enrolment,
trainings and other elements of the pathway. Women are bound by their domestic family
tasks and have not the same flexibility in terms of mobility, decision making power,
space to express needs and opinions or access to finance as men generally have in the
household and in society in all three countries. This has impact on the type of activities
they can participate in (access to land, and inputs, heavy labour, absence from home,
etc.), the time of the meetings (household chores in the evenings), internships and
participation in fairs and exhibitions (husbands do not allow).
Culture also play a role in how much space women get to engage in group activities and
how much empowerment is allowed. It was established that certain sectors are more
women friendly than others, such as horticulture, small scale poultry, or ICS activities
are easier to manage for young women (often mothers).
x
After the MTR, the country teams have focused more specifically on the participation of
the women in the program and have been able to increase the number of the young
women substantially even though the target of 40% has not yet been attained (36% of
women among the realised numbers and 37% against original target). It proofs that if
extra effort is made it is possible to attract more women to join in and benefit from the
program.
Concluding:
Given the short period for generating results, the project has done a commendable job.
Changing mindsets, transmitting difficult messages that are understood and assimilated,
with such clear positive impact on individual basis, organizing a challenging category of
the population in such big numbers is impressive.
The Push-Match-Pull Model works especially because the trajectory includes YSLA,
gender mainstreaming and longer-term coaching and mentoring for at least one year.
Project is well on its way to maturity and about to obtain sustainable results, but support
period was too short for ensuring lasting impact for all those that have been involved,
especially the latest cohort of youth enrolled.
In terms of “employment”, it is more relevant in the three concerned countries to aim at
“resilience in self-employment”, enhancing the capacity of the youth to adjust to ever
changing circumstances and still find opportunities, whether it is weather /climate
change driven or policies and markets that constantly change.
Youth is a workable target group. Once they have understood, they are committed, often
disciplined, and creative in finding opportunities.
Special attention for the participation of young women is a must because it is not
automatic that women will participate in OYE project activities. There is need for specific
attention and approach, time investment and therefore budget allocation to include
young women.
YSLAs are the stabilizing pillar and gluing factor for the youth because it forces them to
function as a group. They create leadership, they serve as a social security net, they
provide access to funding to start a business. The registration at the district council of
the YSLA makes them more solid and allows the groups to access loans and to receive
technical support from the district and is key for the sustainability of the groups
The local governments that were encountered were all positive and supportive of the
OYE youth. It is hoped that they will be able to continue to mentor and coach the groups
when necessary. The support of the local government is crucial on the long term.
The monitoring and evaluation system of the project, especially its database, has
encountered many problems. Management of this aspect should have been adequate
from the beginning. Nevertheless, the narrative reporting by the LSPs, the checks by the
xi
OYE teams and the results of the field visits as well as discussions with the youth, give
sufficient ground for accepting the generated figures as close to reality.
Lessons learned
The following lessons were learned and should be considered in future similar projects
• Project design allowing for trial and error has been conducive for the evolvement
and success of the project
• Funding for mentoring and coaching as well as for gender mainstreaming is
needed from the start of the project, as was the case in the design of the OYE
program
• Time is needed for sustaining impact
• Support and regular communication as well as joint planning and assessing
performances with the LSPs increases performance
• Using the youth as starting point for the database combined with more qualitative
monitoring of the transition the youth are going through will possibly provide a
more interesting picture of progress
• Internships based on a realistic cost sharing basis have more possible result in
terms of employment
• Start-up kits should be only provided when in partnership with a financial
institution
• No big loans for starting groups should not be encouraged but be avoided
• Market analysis beyond the localities and country borders could enlarge the
opportunities for employment for the youth
1
1. Introduction
Since 2013, SNV has implemented the program called Opportunities for Youth
Employment (OYE), which was jointly developed with and funded by Mastercard
Foundation (MCF). The main objective of the program is to identify 20,500 rural out-of-
school youth and train them in market-relevant skills in order to improve their
employability (push factor). Once they have been trained in basic life skills and business
development, these youngsters are supported to enter into internships or to start up
youth-led enterprises (pull factor). The program also facilitates market
linkages/opportunities and access to start-up capital and investment funds for the
trained youth (match factor). The ultimate beneficiaries of the program are rural out-of-
school youth, with special attention for young women (often young mothers).
OYE has been implemented in three countries in East Africa, focusing on different
sectors, namely agriculture in Mozambique, renewable energy in Rwanda and agriculture
and renewable energy in Tanzania. The program is finalized in July 2018, hence the
current end of program evaluation.
The purpose of the evaluation is to better understand the outcomes and longer-term
impact of the program and its future trajectory. Special attention needs to be given to
the accessibility and attractiveness of the program for young women, as well as the
levels of success they have been able to achieve.
The key audiences for the evaluation are Mastercard Foundation and SNV, who will use
the evaluation’s results to inform their respective Youth Employment portfolios.
The assignment takes place from mid of February to the end of June 2018, with the desk
study and field visits started beginning of March and ended mid-May.
2. Methodology
The key components of the evaluation were the following:
• Introduction to the assignment
• Desk study and Action learning
• Development of methodology and inception report
• Field visits
• Processing and analysis of data
• Report writing
The team has visited the respective projects in the three countries, to get familiarized
with the projects, to better understand the MTR findings and other documentation, which
are the basic building blocks for the evaluation. The evaluation emphasized the impact of
2
the implementation of the recommendations of the MTR (see annex 4 for the
methodology).
Figure 1: Methodology steps
The field visits ranged from 5 to 7 days per country.
The evaluation team has spent time with the OYE teams’ members to understand better
the reality of the program, next to meetings and interviews with a selected sample of
beneficiaries and stakeholders that could be visited within the timeframe. By no means
the field visits to the respective countries enabled to grasp the full extent of the work
done by the teams, nevertheless it is a valued contribution to the revision of the many
documents produced and shared. The field visit notes have been shared with the country
teams to be checked on misinterpretations or omissions. A summary of the field visits is
attached to this report. The draft final evaluation report has been discussed with OYE
Tanzania team and presented to the program managers of OYE Rwanda and OYE
Mozambique for their comments.
3. Background and history
3.1. Design of the project
The OYE project is not a traditional development project with a blueprint for the
implementation of the project framework. Due to the nature of its target group, namely
the out-of-school youth, the project had to be innovative, flexible, attractive to the youth
and generous to generate results and consolidate them.
The OYE project had the ambitious goal to reach improved livelihoods, ways of
living and asset creation for 17,500 youths. And for the systemic environment:
improved vocational skills delivery and access to employment for young people
(see Annex 10 for the results framework and Annex 11 for the Theory of Change).
1.Evaluation launch
meeting
2. Desk study3. Inception: methodology
and tools
4. Field visits:
Jointly to Rwanda; separately to
Mozambique and Tanzania
5. Processing and analysis;
triangulation and
verification
6. Reporting and sharing
3
While the end results and outcomes were already defined from the beginning, the
project has been designed to evolve along the way around clear basic principles based
on the PUSH-MATCH-PULL model.
As said, the primary objective of OYE was to identify 20,500 rural out-of-school youth
and train them in market-relevant skills, thus improving their employability. It was
estimated that around 17,500 youth would access (self-) employment and 400 new
youth-led enterprises would be established. OYE aimed to achieve this by improving the
skills of youth (push factor), linking them to market opportunities for employment and
enterprise development (match factor) in growth sectors that have concrete potential for
(self-) employment creation (pull factor).
Figure 2. Push-Match-Pull Diagram
The focus on youth required a completely different way of thinking. Youth (and even
more: out-of-school youth), was for long considered a difficult target group, driven by
their human nature to survive and the urge to break away from establishment and
authority. It is also a target group with limited, if at all, assets or access to start-up
capital, often still living with their parents and many of them not having completed their
education, and lacking skills that make them employable.
In addition, the project could not build on much experience with youth-oriented
programs elsewhere since this focus on youth has only recently been on the radar of the
more important donors. Therefore, the project design had to allow for trial and error and
for flexibility. The first two to three years of the project served to further develop the
Push-Match-Pull model, to understand the key binding and critical factors to attract and
keep the youth focused and to find a way to support youth in generating money and in
building resilience without creating dependency.
4
Initial starting points were the existing programs of SNV within specific (sub) sectors,
namely the agriculture sector and the renewable energy sector. The assumption was that
because of SNV’s experience in those sectors it would be easier to understand the
sector’s mechanisms and dynamics as well as to find markets for employment for the
youth.
As the mid-term evaluation stated: “By making use of existing assets (i.e. networks,
technical expertise) of SNV in the Agri and Renewable Energy sectors, and by acting on
the basis of business opportunities in a flexible way, OYE enhances its relevance for
targeted youth and SNV. While this may be true to a certain extent (solar, red meat)
there were challenges to connect OYE youth with existing sectors, since it came to the
foreground that SNV sector programs are largely technical focussed and are not
specifically youth oriented”.
3.2. Management structure
The structure of the management of the project in each country differed, but the basic
principle of SNV staff in the countries working through Local Service Providers (LSPs),
was the same for all three countries. This approach implied availability of competent
local service providers, which were qualified enough to drive such an ambitious and
“new” project. However, the difference in context in each country led to different
applications of this modality.
The LSPs worked directly with the youth, their leaders and the groups in the two sectors.
The LSPs were facilitated and supported by OYE Technical Advisors either based at SNV
country offices or at the local offices. Differences in the type of LSPs are linked to the
country specifics and will be discussed at a later stage.
Other important partners are the private sector companies interested in engaging with
youth as future employees or suppliers. They constitute a large part of the PULL factor,
potentially providing for a market for employment as well as markets for the products
generated by the youth. The Private Sector is also not used to work with “out-of-school”
youth and there exists a strong prejudice against these young people as being non-
committal, poorly educated and the more. OYE has tried hard to prove them wrong and
has succeeded to do so in many cases when given the opportunity.
One of the concepts of the OYE program was introducing the youth to the basic life skills
training, which helped them understand that they can take the change for the
betterment of their livelihoods in their own hands. An important message was the fact
that it requires only little investments to make a business start as long as the concept is
sound, and people are committed to the cause and go the extra mile.
Nevertheless, from the beginning, the biggest challenge that most youth mentioned is
the access to finance for them to be able to start an income generating activity / small
business enterprise. They claim that they need start-up kits (in terms of tools and
equipment as well as cash). Because this was not an option in the existing design of the
project, plus the fact that youth could as individuals not apply for loans in the formal
5
system, the concept of Youth Saving and Loans Associations (YSLAs) was introduced
after the first year.
Figure 3: diagram of the OYE trajectory
3.3. Evolution
The project has encountered certain challenges, which were identified in the mid-term
review, and which have been addressed to a large extent. This included the
competencies and performances of the LSPs, the changing national policies, e.g. in the
case of biogas in both Rwanda and Tanzania, the earlier mentioned assumption that
existing SNV sector programs would be easy entry points for the OYE program,
application of the push-match-pull model in realities that are not always favourable, just
to name a few. Examples are the financial crisis in Mozambique, limited absorption
capacity for “formal” employment, the operationalisation of supportive policies regarding
youth, the role of OYE TA and, the relationship of OYE regional program with SNV
country managements.
The MTR report has well described the issues and proposed recommendations for the
second half of the project. This has helped the project to adjust and adopt the model to
the needs of the target group as well as to the local context of respective countries.
At the time of the MTR (mid 2016), all involved were basing their vision, actions and
plans on the idea that this project would be followed by a second five-year phase as was
agreed at the time of the mid-term evaluation (see MTR report as well as the
Management Response to the MTR). However, the OYE program was informed in August
2017 that there would be no second phase due to the new funding strategy at the
Foundation (from partner-based to country-based), which will certainly impact the
SNV LSPs
Capacity: technical and
Support skills
Funding
Pro activeness
Contract
Equipment
Monitoring
Capacity
Commitment
Youth
PSPs
LGAs
BLS training
internshipsIdentify
Pull factor
Selection of
youth
Group
registrations
Access to
loans
YLEs
Wage
employ
ment
Self
employ
mentYSLA
Pull
Matching
Push
Contract
farming
job
Business
plans
Mentoring
coaching
6
success rate of the youth led groups and youth led enterprises, as the crucial coaching
and mentoring will be discontinued. SNV is attracting attention from other development
partners – as SDC joined OYE in Tanzania and is likely to continue its funding after July
2018. For OYE Mozambique and Rwanda a financing gap is anticipated at least until
January 2019.
The consultants’ opinion, based on the field visits and discussion with the various actors,
being private sector, government agencies and others, is that the youth program would
have benefitted from a consolidation period to provide the youth with a more solid base
to change their lives and livelihoods. The youth, already grateful for the opportunity
provided, will continue to make the best of their future.
4. Starting point for the evaluation
4.1. MTR findings summary
Since the MTR team has thoroughly assessed the first period of the project (mid 2013-
mid 2016), the final evaluation team builds its assessment upon what was already found
and recommended during the MTR as summarized in this chapter.
This chapter presents the summarized conclusions based on the findings of the MTR.
Relevance
1. The MTR team considered that the project is responding to fundamental and urgent
needs of the youth in their search for meaningful employment.
2. Agriculture and renewable energy are attractive sectors that relate to the interest of
the targeted rural out of school youth.
3. Although the MTR team observed strong diversities between the countries in terms of
the youth’s expertise and experiences within the targeted sectors, it was concluded
that OYE, with its inclusive and diverse concept of employment and learned skills,
responds to wide, and in particular vulnerable, youth needs. OYE participants are
within the preset project criteria.
4. Women are not yet sufficiently included due to existing systematic barriers related to
culture, and household and family duties.
5. OYE has selected relevant partners and stakeholders to collaborate with. OYE has
been nurturing these relationships and improvements have been observed.
Nonetheless, stakeholders and partners require systematic continuous relationship
building and management as to generate interest and trust in OYE, and the provision
of quality services by LSP/LGA’s
7
Effectiveness
1. OYE is on track towards the number of trained youth in business, life and technical
skills. Youth Led Enterprises (YLE) and matching internships had already reached the
targeted numbers.
2. Challenge lies with making sure that trained youth continue towards employment and
sustainable income generation.
3. Young women are considerably behind their male counterpart on all targets despite
the OYE model being inclusive to women practicing their gender roles.
4. The OYE “Push-Match-Pull” model is well designed and appreciated by all
stakeholders for its inclusiveness and context relevance.
5. However, the time-gaps between activities are too long resulting into loss of interest
for the OYE targeted rural out-of-school youth.
6. Systematic follow-up support, mentoring, coaching and monitoring of youth (groups)
is currently too limited.
7. Youth that are attached to a company via formal employment contracts or those that
have the vigour to start youth-led enterprises usually perform well.
8. More attention is still needed as the current capacity of LSPs is mostly on training
and not supporting/mentoring youth.
9. The one-year retainer contracts that have been put in place are an improvement, but
more could be done to smoothen the administrative contracting processes.
10. Access to start-up material & financial capital is currently insufficient or unvaried
enough for youth to generate sustainable income, resulting into market saturation or
loss of interest by youth.
Efficiency
1. OYE is efficient in reaching its targeted outputs while under spending 22% of its
planned budget.
2. A further reduction in staffing budget in Tanzania as planned for year 4 and 5 will
most likely affect the quality assurance of, and guidance to, LSPs, something which is
much needed to be effective.
3. The organization and management of OYE is efficiently organized and supported by
its staff.
4. Clarity in communication, timely follow-up on contracting processes and funds
disbursement, as well as overall guidance towards LSPs requires specific attention so
to enhance efficient implementation of activities and monitoring of results.
8
Impact
1. For all youth enrolled in OYE, a change in mind-set is observed and, especially the
combination of life and business skills trainings have a long-lasting effect on the
perspective that youth have on their lives and (self-) employment opportunities.
2. The impact OYE has on youth’s employment trajectories and an improved sustainable
economic situation is too early to tell.
3. Youth who take “action” to start/expand income generating activities via setting up
youth-led enterprises, and youth that are guided via mentorship/ internship or
employment programs are doing well and will (likely) reach impact level results.
4. Youth groups that organize themselves struggle (or lose interest). This is mainly due
to (over)expectations by youth, incomplete start up material; their subsistence-
oriented life-styles, and most importantly limited follow-up mentoring and support.
Sustainability
1. Linking youth enterprises and youth groups to public youth funds is a valuable
feature of OYE, enabling the youth groups to complement their self-help credit clubs.
2. Private financing institutions are a third route, which may need more time to
develop, but which offer longer-term prospects.
3. The OYE approach is still new for the involved actors, notably the external parties
such as private sector enterprises and financial institutions, to fully believe in its
long-term advantages for their own business or institution.
4. OYE its assumption that the private sector is by design interested in youth their
(trained) skills is flawed.
5. Towards the end of the OYE project in 2018, evidences of profitability and
productivity are expected to be observed, so that co-financing of life skills training
and internships might become a viable pathway.
6. OYE engages strongly and constructively with national (Rwanda and Mozambique)
and local governments and institutions.
7. OYE does not explicitly partake in lobbying and advocacy on political level, but it has
built connections with active institutions that have a recognized sphere of influence,
such as TAHA in Tanzania.
4.2. Recommendations by the MTR team
The recommendations are presented following the process of implementation of OYE
starting with market led opportunities (PULL), to the implementation of the support
activities (PUSH), towards matching with private sector (MATCH), towards enhancing
impact level results so to learn and attract new youth, companies and government
support.
9
1. Start from the market opportunities at all times and analyse if the market is
accessible for OYE youth activities and if there is a “pull” factor.
2. Conduct in-depth sub sector analysis to discover employment opportunities along
the value chain
3. Widen value chain opportunities beyond production especially for women. A gender
analysis of the market, via close consultation with female youth (and their
husbands), is recommended in order to identify new opportunities for women that
match their gender values and role in society
4. Matching opportunities need to be present (time and funds) before the push,
market options agreed between stakeholders before training
5. Document evidence and inform private sector on the added value of OYE youth
towards profitability and productivity of companies; reach out to new private sector
stakeholders (incl. employers association) to create more income opportunities for
youth
6. Shorten pathway in time: set-up, roll-out and monitor a chain/pathway of push-
match-pull activities within a 2-3 months’ time-frame. Emphasis on the completion
of the pathway: requires a clear target setting, with a step by step approach based
on strong market demand.
7. Coaching and mentoring of youth, requires a practical, dynamic, pro-active and
personal approach. Assessment of LSP capacity in understanding the processes of
starting a business in the value chain and country context.
8. OYE to provide systematic support, performance monitoring and quality assurance
to LSPs as they are critical for the quality of OYE its interventions and results.
Salary reduction not advised
9. Geographically concentrate of OYE activities to allow for peer-to-peer learning and
attract new youth, across value-chains and sectors in order to avoid market
saturation
10. In addition to the self-help credit clubs and public youth funds via LGAs, OYE should
continue to strategically work towards linking youth-led enterprises with private
financing institutions
11. Geographically concentrate OYE activities so to allow for peer-to-peer learning and
attract new youth and also reduce fragmented support/investments of OYE/LSPs,
and as such enhance their efficiency/effectiveness.
12. Capture impact results with Most Significant Change Stories (MSC) and reach out to
donors and GoT.
Full description of recommendations of the MTR are in annex 9.
10
4.3. Reorientation after the MTR
The assessment process and the final recommendations of the MTR have been used to
learn and redirect and reorient the program towards the goals of the program. The first
action of the project, therefore, was to regroup all the OYE staff, in order to reflect, learn
and re-strategize on how to continue in the second part of phase 1.
Focus was put on:
• Investment in interesting private sector partners and development of agreements
• Finding more funding opportunities
• YSLAs strengthening
• Advanced BDS training
• Mentoring and coaching
• LSPs assessment, change of contracts and performance improvement
As mentioned already, at the time of the MTR, the assumption was that there would be a
second phase. The idea prevailed that the remaining time of the first phase was to be
used for further shaping the project based on the identified key success factors in the
different countries and to optimize the effectiveness of the interventions.
The August 2017 decision by MCF to change its operational strategy from a partner-
based to country-based approach, led to the unfortunate situation that the OYE program
would come to an end by July 2018. It is felt that the program would have largely
benefitted from one more period of support to the OYE youth to consolidate the
achievements so far. At the same time, the collaboration with MCF has been providing a
tremendous opportunity to design, develop, test and adjust the program, which has
allowed SNV to adapt and adopt the youth program and develop it into a global brand,
thus incorporating lessons learned from the three countries that were supported as part
of the partnership. Changing mindsets of youth and other stakeholders and developing a
new approach around youth employment and employability has been at the heart of the
program.
Knowing that the program was to come to an end, the final year focussed more on
consolidation of the achievements and new enrolments that would have otherwise
started with a prolongation of the program, were halted. Year five was, therefore, mainly
focussing on finalizing the trajectories with the existing OYE youth and strengthening of
the existing groups/cooperatives and YSLAs.
4.4. The model evolvement
4.4.1. Shift of the emphasis in the model
In fact, based on the MTR recommendations, the emphasis shifted to a more effective
application of the model, such as using the power of the PULL factor first to attract
youth, finding more matching opportunities and to accompany the youth all the way to
11
“meaningful / sustainable” employment through mentoring and coaching. The model
itself did not change.
An interesting development was a shift from the more formal “full-time” employment,
which anyway turned out to be only for a relatively “happy few”, 5 to 10% of the youth,
towards a “mixed livelihood” concept, often characterized within an informal setting. It
stimulates youth, while progressing along the OYE pathway, to diversify their sources of
income, leading to more resilience and the ability to buffer unpredictable changes in
their environment and/or market fluctuations. This trend emerged during the second
year of the program, though became even more pronounced after the MTR.
Photo 1: The ICS group in Ngororero Rwanda
The ICS groups in Rwanda were most impressive in terms of turning around
the lives of marginalized youth. This group is constituted of in total 23 youth of
which 16 males and 7 females with 14 younger than 22 year old and 8 older
than 22; most had not finished primary school and some are already parents.
All have other business, such as farming, poultry and others. For most of its
members the group was a lifesaving opportunity in this remote area, that they
have embraced with both hands. They were able to generate income,
participate in the YSLA, which allowed them to get a loan for doing small
business, which helped to pay back loan and help family. Each member was
able to diversify.
“We first were marginalized, but now we are happy, because we are realizing
our dreams and feel proud. The most important for us was i) to be brought
together ii) receive training, coaching and mentorship, iii) always get support
when we needed it, we have never felt alone”.
12
The MTR proposed to more strongly link the OYE program with the Private Sector and
the Financial Institutions, starting with sector analysis for the two sectors and their
respective subsectors. However, these have not been conducted, only Rwanda has
further analysed the biogas potential as part of the Renewable Energy sector. Instead,
the general approach was to empower the youth to assess their local context and find
opportunities at their local market, which creates more ownership of the process and
local solutions.
Nevertheless, the relationship with the private sector evolved as well. Trust building was
the initial focus and accompanied with strategic costs sharing, whereby the program
contributed to internships and for youth participation in the “on the job” training. In the
later stages and based on the learning and established trust, a more business-oriented
approach was followed, whereby the companies and the private sector assumed more
responsibility for the technical training, thus improving the “match” between the needs
and the skills provided. The new cost sharing idea was based on companies to invest on
youth training based on their profitability, while OYE continued to invest in youth
coaching and mentoring, with the aim to enhance resilience and retention in self-
employment. In several MoUs that the evaluation team assessed, this change became
apparent between earlier MoUs and later MoUs.
Support to YSLA remained outside the scope of the private sector collaboration, though
entities like BDF and GAPI were very much interested by the element of introducing
youth to formal financial services (opening of accounts, saving, etc).
In the solar subsector OYE youth would become freelance sales agents and technicians,
in agriculture they would become out growers with direct connections to the companies
without OYE as intermediary.
Photo 2: OYE Youth employed by Mobisol in Ruhengeri Rwanda
13
Rosalie Mukashema: technician
Is 25 yrs, joined OYE in 2015, with electronic and technology background after
a secondary school. She had not much hope for the future. She followed the
OYE trajectory with internship at Mobisol and she became a technician. When
she received her first salary: 250,000 did not want to save anything, but later
did save, but not for the bank but for investment elsewhere. She did a small
course on business planning: started poultry which failed; then started
agriculture: rice, cassava and vegetables. Invested 200,000 and gained
600,000. Paid school fees of 2 sisters, rehabilitated the house of the parents,
bought solar panel and paid for installation and maintenance. She is still saving
to improve agriculture production. She need a machine, which she has seen
elsewhere, but she thinks she can make the machine herself during her study
which she wants to continue next year. She also wants to make her provisional
driving license permanent and plans to get married. She has installed 1500
solar systems and did maintenance of 300 systems
4.4.2. The performance improvements after the MTR
In addition, to the above-mentioned trends related to the implementation of the model,
one of the improvements that made a difference, was the way the project worked with
the LSPs after the MTR. The contractual arrangements like payment/reimbursement
criteria, and the duration of the assignments changed. The LSPs were more guided
towards producing results and assessed on performance than against outputs and
justification of finances. This required the LSPs to be result-focused.
Differences between countries were observed in the way the LSP operated: In Rwanda,
LSPs follow a specific segment of the youth support and are not engaged in all steps,
while in Mozambique LSP are mainly field supervisors and freelancers (due to lack of
local organisations or companies that fit in the OYE niche). They are trained on BLS and
business skills development themselves and then continue supporting the youth groups.
In Tanzania, like in Rwanda, LSPs are small entities as compared to the freelancers in
Mozambique. In the course of the project, they have developed their capacities to
support the youth through all stages of the pathway.
14
Table 1: Implementation of the MTR recommendations and the results
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
MTR Recommendation In which way/how did you address it
1. Start from the market
opportunities at all times
and analyse if the market
is accessible for OYE youth
activities and if there is a
“pull” factor.
Therefore, continue
relationship building by
OYE and create trust to
generate access to the
private sector companies
for matching opportunities.
This means increased time
and financial investments.
OYE Rwanda has always started by
analysing opportunities for the
youth and has been engaging with
governments or the private sector
on that basis.
This was being done on the basis
of agreements with Private sector,
REG, with clear targets and co-
sharing plan.
First of all, we identified market
opportunities before trainings began.
OYE Mozambique prioritized linkages
with private sector companies that
had potential to grow and increase
their intake of youth. More MoUs were
signed with companies that could
provide market for youth.
Market scan identification was carried
out from the start of each
implementing year of the project.
It involves stake holders (LGAs, LSPs,
and Private sector companies) within
the specific village/ district.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Employed youth by private sector
or through government/District
opportunities.
Rapid private sector expansion and
reaching out to Last Mile.
Increased number of youth engaged
and linked to the market
More companies were identified and
engaged resulting in more youth
(self-) employed in a business/market
relationship with these companies.
2. Conduct in-depth sub
sector analysis to discover
employment opportunities
along the value chain.
Beyond production and
In which way/how did you address it
OYE signed an agreement with
REG on biogas based on the sector
needs and opportunities,
After trainings e.g. basic life skills
training, YSLA and Business skills the
Market research form/template was
developed by LSPs and filled by youth
at market places for agriculture and
15
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
including processing/value
addition, look for cross
sector incubation
specifically in relation to new
biogas to be installed (Government
and Districts targets), as well as
based on the maintenance needs/
overview of already installed
biogas digesters in Districts.
youth themselves identified some
self- employment opportunities.
ICS and during events for renewable
energy.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Concrete opportunities for the
youth
Government able to reach its
development targets and sustain
what is already installed
Start of new initiatives such as
livestock keeping, chili pepper, soya
beans and fish keeping.
Youth able to assess opportunities for
business activities, and found
especially opportunities for trade
between villages and towns
3. Widen value chain
opportunities beyond
production especially for
women. A gender analysis
of the market, via close
consultation with female
youth & female
entrepreneurs (and their
husbands), is
recommended in order to
identify new opportunities
for women that match
In which way/how did you address it
In Rwanda, one good example of
opening up opportunities for
women is constituted by the biogas
cooperatives that broadened their
scope to (for instance) solar, which
attracted more young women into
the cooperatives.
Women started to do side activities
such as baking cakes, YSLA and
marketing of agricultural produce
Introduction of food value addition
activities e.g. spices, nutritious flour,
wine
Solar-Women have been engaged into
sales as solar agents and market
drivers
Introduction of poultry keeping which
was lucrative to both men women.
Allow YSLA meetings to take place at
the homes of those families where the
16
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
their gender values and
role in society
husband did not allow the wife to
leave the homestead hence give him
a chance to see the involvement of
the youth in their social-economic
growth.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
More young ladies enrolled and
employed
More young ladies involved into
leadership of cooperatives
Increased number of women coming
into the project and a reduction of
women dropouts
Increased number of women in self-
employment and youth led
enterprises led by women
Improvement has been noted e.g. in
animal fattening women were not
interested neither in animal
slaughtering but were later trained on
packaging of the end products and
selling.
In cook stoves women took up the
ceramic /pottery activities whereas
men took up the liner making and
assembling of stove activity.
5. Matching opportunities
need to be present (time
and funds) before the
push, market options
agreed between
stakeholders before
training like provision of
start-up material, access
to finance opportunities,
In which way/how did you address it
OYE partnered with solar
companies, through an analysis of
their expansion plans and business
models. Rooms for youth inclusion
and career growth would be
identified with private sector
partner, this was the case for
MoUs have been prepared indicating
the responsibilities of the various
partners. These could have been
tripartite MoUs with also youth being
involved as signing partner
Matching opportunities for only 60
percent of youth after being trained in
business development. The
assumption was the 60 percent
trained youth had to train the
remaining 40 percent.
17
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
and systematic mentoring
support. These conditions
(who is providing how
much by when) are to be
formalized and agreed
upon on paper
Ignite, Mobisol, Drimex, biogas,
etc.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Increased number of youth being
employed (self-employed) through
the companies
Increased self-employment (Exceeded
our target of self -employment -
115%)
We suggest having sufficient budget
allocated to cover all the youth
recruited rather than leaving other
youth in the process. We believe that
business development skills cannot be
disseminated by fellow youth as they
are not experts in this discipline even
though they can be role models.
5. Document evidence and
inform private sector on
the added value of OYE
youth towards profitability
and productivity of
companies; reach out to
new private sector
stakeholders (incl.
employers association) to
create more income
opportunities for youth
Drimex biogas, Ignite and Mobisol,
acknowledge the contribution of
OYE, in regard to their rapid
expansion.
This is reflected into our database,
specifically the number of youth
employed and their geographical
cover.
In addition, a number of youth
have grown within the same
companies, to occupy
management positions.
We hired a communication consultant
who made case studies including one
that explained private sector role on
youth market opportunities.
A video was also produced that
showed various youth interventions
and relations with private sector
While documentation of partnerships
with private sectors makes a good
reference of private companies to
realize the value added by the OYE
youth in terms of profitability and
productivity, we have not actively
invested in documentation very much.
18
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
More ownership of OYE activities
and methodology by private sector
actors
More visibility at district, provincial
and national level.
We are also visible internationally
through Facebook and YouTube
This advantage is not only for the
private sectors but also for all
stakeholders. (i.e., the donor, SNV,
government, etc.)
6. Shorten pathway in time:
set-up, roll-out and
monitor a chain/pathway
of push-match-pull
activities within a 2-3
months’ time-frame.
Emphasis on the
completion of the
pathway: requires a clear
target setting, with a step
by step approach based
on strong market demand
In which way/how did you address it
The OYE Rwanda pathways have
been always short, as these
pathways were always guided by
agreements signed with
governments and private sector
actors, which were time bounded.
It’s not very realistic to shorten the
pathway to 2-3 month in the
agriculture sector. It might need 6 -8
months. Changing of the mindset and
application of the skills learnt is a
process.
The pathway remained the same, as
we aimed at results because from
experience we have learnt that
coaching is the key component to
nurture YLEs, coaching needs enough
investment of budget and time.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
More effective processes for youth
empowerment
N/A No change
7. Coaching and mentoring
of youth, requires a
practical, dynamic, pro-
active and personal
approach. Assessment of
LSP capacity in
understanding the
In which way/how did you address it
Most of the activities were shifted
to coaching and mentorship,
Much has been also invested
towards the PULL, this through
This has been taken into account. OYE
LSPs started coaching youth groups.
In addition, there are some
companies that also assume this
In making coaching of YLEs more
practical the implementing partners
started by gaps identifications and the
coaching activities actively addressed
the gaps identified. Also, we put
19
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
processes of starting a
business in the value
chain and country context
enterprises, cooperatives
formation, YSLA, which provided
perfect framework for coaching
and mentorship activities.
responsibility of coaching and
providing technical training of youth.
conditions to LSPs to assign a
relevant technical person towards
coaching of the gaps identified, and in
making sure that all things are done
we provided a time schedule for
coaching sessions and reporting what
was done per agreed time frame.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
More youth employed and able to
diversify for more income.
Improvement of market orientation
for the youth.
More adoption to agricultural best
practices
Increased quality of production and
productivity
More ownership by the companies and
willingness to invest in the youth
Stronger and well-functioning YSLAs
8. OYE to provide systematic
support, performance
monitoring and quality
assurance to LSPs as they
are critical for the quality
of OYE its interventions
and results. Salary
reduction not advised
In which way/how did you address it
This was done through the OYE
monthly meetings or specific
regular thematic meetings
(Business or technical LCBs).
Tools were developed for LCB
reporting, which also adapted to
Monthly and quarterly meeting
Technical training of LSPs in all of our
intervention areas (e.g. by GAPI, CIP,
ITTA)
Refresher trainings
Financial management and
verification support was done by an
audit firm
Also, SNV provided intensive support
in terms of insuring quality control as
the project management decided to
20
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
new realities of youth maturating
into employment and youth
group’s growth.
LCBs were also regularly assessed
against their activity plans, which
were also aligned to the overall
OYE Rwanda activity plan.
Joint monitoring field visits on the last
day of each quarterly meeting
make divisions of roles to technical
advisors to each and every one to
concentrate to his/her geographical
area
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Youth closely supported and able
to keep their jobs and improve
their income
Improved quality of service delivery
by LSPs
Improved management of and
support to LSPs
9. Linking youth enterprises
to financing institutions
In which way/how did you address it
Youth were linked to BDF and its
22 branches countrywide and
accessed finance
Youth are banking with 138
branches of financial institutions
country wide, including SACCOs, a
good number have access to
finance, either in groups or
individually
Engaged an MFI (Micro Finance
Institution) to train and finance some
potential youth initiatives
Negotiated for some government and
private company funding for youth
initiatives
The financial institutions interest rates
are high and so we decided to insist
linkages from other sources of
financing like LGA and intensifying
YSLA. Also, youth could not afford to
provide the collaterals which were
demanded by the MFI’s and other
financial institutions
21
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Increased investments capabilities
by the OYE youth, leading to more
employment opportunities and
income.
Access start-up capital
Creation of youth led enterprises
Applications prepared and submitted
to the 5% loans of the LGAS and
some of the groups receiving the
loans.
10. Geographically
concentrate of OYE
activities to allow for
peer-to-peer learning and
attract new youth, across
value-chains and sectors
in order to avoid market
saturation and to reduce
fragmented
support/investments of
OYE/LSPs, and as such
enhance their
efficiency/effectiveness.
In which way/how did you address it
OYE Rwanda continued to operate
countrywide, due to own country
specificity, private sector drive and
request from central government
level
The project did not continue
expanding to new geographical areas
but increased the number of
interventions in existing operational
areas.
This was adhered to as the condition
for recruitment of new youth was to
go nearby the old areas so as to
reduce cost and make coaching
support easy for the LSPs.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Cost effectiveness and increased
value for money
Groups are visited more often by
LSPs, improved support
11. Capture impact results
with Most Significant
Change Stories MSC and
reach out to donors and
GoT
In which way/how did you address it
Impact result captured into our
database.
Engaged a Communication Consultant
to capture impact stories
Steering Committee was engaged to
divulge the project at national level
SNV through OYE project hired a
communication consultant who has
already prepared the youth profiles
and success stories which are shared
already. The documentary is
22
Rwanda Mozambique Tanzania
Presentation of the project to district
and provincial government institutions
completed but is yet to be publicized
waiting for supporting documents due
to GDPR.
Also, we have exposed youth in youth
forum, International Youth day,
women day and other national
activities like independent touch,
National Peasants day and National
Entrepreneur trade fair day.
What was the result (outcome and impact level)
Increased government ownership that
will enable sustainability
Photo 3: ICS group in Rubavu,
Rwanda
Photo 4: Horticulture group in
Mozambique
Photo 5: YLE: food processing in
Tanzania
23
5. Findings after the MTR
5.1. Relevance
In all three countries, the goal of the project to reach improved livelihood for 17,500
youths, improved ways of living and asset creation, was still perceived as very relevant
by the beneficiaries as well as by the partners and other stakeholders. The support
package that OYE has offered, through the respective LSPs, based on the market scans
of opportunities for (self-)employment, in order to address the needs, ambitions and
interests of the rural out-of-school youth (men and women) in the two sectors, was
flexible and adapted to the local contexts. In Rwanda opportunities for (self-)
employment have been particularly identified in solar. In Tanzania, the market scan was
not always systematically conducted in the agriculture sector before the enrolment of
youth and the start of the push activities. However, the youth have been introduced to
conducting their own market scans at local markets to identify opportunities, which has
empowered them to become more resilient to unpredictable markets and climate change
and gain ownership of their interventions.
Photo 6: Small scale poultry in Morogoro
In Mozambique the team was, after a difficult start, much engaged in finding
opportunities within agri-business in three provinces, Tete, Zambezia and Nampula.
Opportunities varied from offering positions as contract farming (ingrowing, outgrowing),
poultry keeping and more traditional farming opportunities like Cotton growing. Youth
link up to processors (fruit crops), traders like Amarula and ETG and local markets,
selling produce directly to the end-users. The relevance of the choice of the subsectors
was confirmed by the youth that joined the program.
Renewable energy offered a “cool” job in solar for the more advanced youth, while the
ICS groups were life-saving and accessible for the more vulnerable youth. Biogas was a
more difficult option in Tanzania due to problems in the Domestic Biogas Project that
eventually was closed in 2017. On the other hand, the Government of Rwanda gave high
priority to the biogas subsector decentralizing the national program (formerly funded by
24
the Dutch government) to the district level, whereby districts have included biogas
targets in their IMIHIGU goals and plans. While subsidies were reduced, the OYE Rwanda
team argues that the youth still found “meaningful employment” in that subsector, which
was supported by the fact that there are currently 22 youth-led biogas cooperatives and
12 viable companies, which also included YSLAs with “good savings”. In the districts
where biogas did not appear in the IMIHIGU goals anymore, the biogas cooperatives are
focusing on maintenance of the digesters and introduction of the cheaper plastic
digesters, because the price of the installation had become a big obstacle for households
to invest in biogas.
Regarding agriculture, in Tanzania, the choice of the sub sector was, in the visited
activities, inspired by the competencies of the contracted LSP. For example, in Morogoro
the technical skills that were promoted were related to organic agriculture because of
SAT’s focus on organic agriculture. In Moshi, the selected subsector for technical skills
development was food value addition, because of the competency of the selected LSP,
SIDO Kilimanjaro. As the team was not able to visit all activities in the program, it could
be a coincidence with the two mentioned LSPs for it to occur. However, the number of
groups that were involved with the LSP are considerable.
Photo 7: Material of Francisca Massawe for packaging of spice in Moshi
Francisca is 26 years, not married and no children. She was introduced to OYE
through SIDO in 2016. She was in a group already. SIDO invited those who are
interested in food addition and she was the only one from the group. After
training in BLS, technical skills, and BDS, she went back to the group and
started with a few members. But they were too slow and not enough committed,
therefore she went on her own and later registered at BRELA. She started with
her own savings and YSLA loan from group. She needed and had to invest in:
i) Package material, ii) Sealing machine, iii) Grinding machine (not yet, I have
to go somewhere for grinding), iv) Scale, v) Bar codes (via OYE/SIDO), vi) Area
to work from. It is profit making also because she found a supplier thanks to
SIDO and reinvested all profit into business till 2017 when she started to pay
herself 100,000 per month. She now still need the grinding machine and the
certification from TBS and TFDA. She is grateful to OYE because of the trainings;
25
she could consult SIDO on technical aspects to make big decisions; OYE helped
with connection to Ruka JUU competition when she won start-up kit and asked
OYE to help her with the barcodes as reward; SIDO connected her to suppliers
of packaging material; attended seminars and became a certified trainer herself
of SIDO; SIDO wanted to send her to USA and Norway but she could not get a
passport on time; participation in Nanenane.
In Mozambique, the technical skill component remained important throughout the
lifespan of the OYE program as the field supervisors, all having a background as
agricultural extension workers, visit the youth groups very frequently and provide
valuable skills at the different stages in the cropping season. No direct link has been
developed with organic farming, though new crops have been introduced, fruit trees and
the very nutritious sweet potato.
The concept of employment has been applied open and flexibly in all three countries,
largely depending on the local context. The majority of the youth has been empowered
to find opportunities in the informal economy on an individual basis, while being part of
groups, or cooperatives or YSLAs allowing them to generate funds. This combination of
empowerment for individual informal employment, the capacity to diversify and the
group support mechanism provides for financial and social security in times of hardship
(bad harvest, diseases of poultry, etc.) as well as in between high and low seasons.
Loans in most YSLA can reach a maximum of 3 times the amount deposited by the
person. In Mozambique, the YSLA has not separated between loans issued for the social
needs and loans for investment in business activities, which can be explained by the
various problems the youth have encountered due to the financial crises, on the one
hand and the extreme weather they had to deal with resulting in loss of housing and
others, on the other hand.
In Rwanda and Tanzania, YSLAs have two different dimensions, one specific for the
social safety function and one for the business loans, the latter being as well the one
receiving most of the contributions. This is merely an observation regarding the change
in approach, without arguing against or in favour of any of the two situations. It depends
very much of the context in which the youth are living and the problems they face. Most
important is the trust that goes hand in hand with the setting up of the YSLA and the
importance that youth, normally deprived from any access to loans, attribute to the
system as a way out to improve their livelihoods. Defaulting on loans is very rare and
measures are in place to use social control mechanisms to make the youth comply with
the loan conditions.
The project engages with three types of key stakeholders i.e. Local Government, Private
Sector companies, and financial institutions. The role of the different stakeholders varies
as well between the countries, with Rwanda being very strong on compliance through
the performance agreements in place at all levels, Mozambique very much involved in
the steering committee and finding in the OYE program a solution to address the youth
in a more systemic way, claiming even to a large ownership of the program, while in
26
Tanzania the relationship is more at the district level as the national level was too
difficult to be taking a lead role.
Both in Mozambique and Rwanda, the financial partners have interest to expand their
youth program, though both GAPI and BSF encountered difficulties to identify the youth
potential and the programs still were not that open to the youth category OYE works
with. The collaboration resulted in the realisation that they have to develop an adapted
program for this youth. Government programs like FAIJ in Mozambique and the district
youth funding program in Rwanda have still problems recollecting loans provided, while
on the other side, GAPI and BSF were more successful in recollecting the loans. Both do
provide as well specific financial training, ranging from initial book keeping to advanced
business skills.
Photo 8: YLE Antonio Jamal received a loan from GAPI and has a hardware shop. Started with second hand clothes some years back and is also active in construction
Antonio Jamal was involved in a 2 weeks session in Nampula in 2015 and
started to have his hardware shop in 2017. He participated in training sessions
where GAPI as a training entity /LSP provided insights on entrepreneurship and
making a business plan.
Based on the plan he was able to get a loan of 100,000 meticais, which he was
required to pay back in 16 months. However, he managed to pay back the loan
in 4 months. He then received a new loan of 250,000 which he will be able to
pay back this June fully.
Next to his shop he has a plot of 15 ha where he produces sesame, maize and
beans and he has constructed his own house. Having a house eases access to
loans.
Local governments were approached since the beginning of the project and are often
involved in the selection of the youth at local level, as well as with the registration of the
groups/cooperatives. In Mozambique it is the Youth Council, which is involved in the
27
selection and registration of youth. In Rwanda, Tanzania and Mozambique, the LGAs also
are facilitating access to finances at district level (Rwanda: the district youth fund; in
Tanzania, with help from the ward community development officers and the district
youth development officers apply for 5% youth funds from the district councils. In
Mozambique, the department of youth and sports is responsible for the FAIJ program.
In follow up of the recommendation by the MTR, beginning 2017, focus was put on
guiding local service providers (LSPs) to also champion local and direct collaborations
with private sector companies. This new approach aimed at bringing about more
sustainable collaborations with the market beyond SNV/OYE interventions.
In the early stage of the project, the private sector companies, especially in Solar and as
a spinoff from the result-based funding agreement that existed with the solar
companies, were involved in the selection of the youth that would participate in the
internships before they were enrolled. Later, most OYE youth was selected by the LSPs,
trained and prepared before “delivering” them to the respective PS companies for
internships and potential future employment. The PS companies still take the proposed
youth through a selection process before accepting them.
The Financial Institutions internal guidelines and policies make it extremely difficult to
engage with youth groups or individuals, for the usual reasons of not having bank
accounts, lack of collateral, etc. Furthermore, the commercial banks have no interest in
youth and their interest rates are simply not affordable!
As mentioned, we have, however, encountered some institutions in Rwanda (BDF) as
well as in Tanzania (FINCA, CDRB and Equity bank) and in Mozambique (GAPI) that have
recently tried out and want to expand or are now ready to try out to provide loans to the
youth on more accessible conditions. The fact that these youth are part of a group, have
experience with savings and taking loans, and can prove their pay-back record, is key in
this case. While the interest rates vary enormously (12-36% on annual basis) the more
mature youth are interested to take such loans since the YSLA are too limited for them
in terms of loan size. GAPI offers already loans starting from a value of around 30 USD,
which provides ample opportunities for youth to get into the formal system. Interest
rates are also acceptable as compared to the formal banks that charge more than twice
the interest rate requested by GAPI (18% versus 44%).
5.2. Effectiveness
Effectiveness is about whether the program reached its targets. In order to be able to
measure the achievements the program has developed a monitoring system to track
progress of youth. LSP kept track of the training and the progress of the youth and
prepared reports of each event (training, coaching and /or mentorship), with the
participating youth. OYE staff ensured that LSP keep track of the above and prepare
reports of planned events monthly or quarterly. OYE staff then crosscheck the accuracy,
and once approved, upload these excel sheets in to the system or approve the one done
so, using tablets. To test accuracy, OYE staff engaged in performing random calls and
28
visits during trainings or after for youth groups or outstanding youth then generate
reports. Excel sheets to be uploaded were available from the computer-based system.
The development of the computer-based database and the subsequent options for data
analysis and generation of progress reports faced multiple challenges during its
development and in the actual implementation. The first consultant was a high-tech firm
in Tanzania (DataVision), that developed a system that was too complex and not
accessible. The next consultant, SmartCode, also a Tanzania based company, adjusted
the application from DataVision which also went through various stages of improvement.
The tool has undergone too many changes and as a result has hardly reached a full
functionality status; information has been updated to date, though updating protocols
are not always followed, which results in multiple updates, both from the system and
manual updates, which is technically possible as update dates for the same set of data
vary. Staff were trained on the first pilot, but after the introduction of multiple changes,
no further training was provided, also not to newly recruited LSPs, who are mainly in
charge of filling the database with the field data. Given the amount of data that is
collected from the high number of youth enrolled in the program, the partly functional
dataset has made monitoring a difficult task to say the least.
Examples of major challenges are:
• The lack of a OYE-based monitoring expert with substantial understanding of
designing a phone-based monitoring application, its limitations and its
opportunities. The tool developed was abandoned and data collection was mainly
done through the LSP with quality checks by OYE staff, or through interns,
specifically recruited for the task. Uploading of data in the developed database
was a complicated task prone to errors and duplications, which hindered easy
access to data for monitoring purposes or provision of progress statistics.
• Missing of a unique ID code and opening up for too many spelling mistakes and
writing conventions. Perhaps a simple id card distributed among the youth could
have solved part of the problem, making tracking of progress much easier.
Nevertheless, the number of youth involved in the program and the results of the
field visits as well as discussions with the youth, gives sufficient ground for final
evaluation to approximate that figures are not too far off the reality.
TZ ag TZ RE MZ ag RW RE Total
Enrolled 7423 4204 5011 4266 20904
Completed training 7063 3851 4584 4228 19726
Entered employment 4822 3141 4612 3192 15767
Continued employment 4328 2245 3893 2627 13039
29
entered employment/
Completed training 68% 82% 101% 75% 80%
Continued employment/
entered employment 89% 71% 83% 82% 83%
Table 2: Results of enrolment, training and employment numbers
Discrepancies in figures could as well be attributed to a difference in interpretation
between the countries in relation to what, for example, employment or continued
employment in the table above entails. This might explain the >100% entered
employment as compared to trained youth in Mozambique, being also much higher than
the average or in comparison to the agricultural sector results in Tanzania. It would
require sitting with the LSP and the teams in the various countries to sort this out.
Some other statistics that are derived from the provided youth statistics are:
Summary Metrics - Overall TZ Ag TZ RE RW MZ TOT
% enrolled youth vs total plan 103% 98% 107% 100% 102%
% employed youth vs total plan 81% 88% 97% 111% 93%
Male enrolment 60% 61% 72% 64% 64%
Female enrolment 40% 39% 28% 36% 36%
Actual % of trained youth in employment 68% 82% 75% 101% 80%
Planned % trained youth in employment 98% 96% 97% 97% 97%
Actual % trained male in employment 68% 80% 74% 104% 80%
Actual % trained female in employment 69% 85% 78% 94% 80%
Actual % employed male continuing
employment 88% 70% 88% 84% 84%
Actual % employed female continuing
employment 93% 73% 68% 81% 81%
Actual training attrition rate 5% 8% 1% 9% 6%
Planned training attrition rate 15%
Summary Metrics - Male only TZ Ag TZ RE RW MZ TOT
% enrolled youth vs total plan 103% 100% 127% 107% 108%
% employed youth vs total plan 79% 88% 113% 122% 98%
Actual % of trained youth in employment 68% 80% 74% 104% 80%
30
Planned % trained youth in employment 98% 96% 97% 97% 97%
% of employed youth continuing
employment 88% 70% 88% 84% 84%
Actual training attrition rate 7% 8% 1% 9% 6%
Planned training attrition rate 15%
Summary Metrics - Female only TZ Ag TZ RE RW MZ TOT
% enrolled youth vs total plan 103% 94% 76% 90% 93%
% employed youth vs total plan 85% 88% 72% 96% 86%
Actual % of trained youth in employment 69% 85% 78% 94% 80%
Planned % trained youth in employment 98% 96% 97% 97% 97%
% of employed youth continuing
employment 93% 73% 68% 81% 81%
Actual training attrition rate 2% 9% 0% 7% 4%
Planned training attrition rate 15% 14% 15% 14% 15%
Table 3: Overall summary metrics
Noteworthy is the overall lower training attrition rate than the figure that was anticipated
of 15% training attrition. The Rwanda rate of 1% is remarkable, with hardly any youth
dropping out of the training.
TZ-Ag TZ-RE RW-RE MZ-Ag all Target Result
Enrolled in program 7,423 4,204 4,266 5,011 20,904 20,500 102%
Successfully completed
training 7,063 3,851 4,228 4,584 19,726 17,500 113%
Participated in
internship in agri-
business
2,824 2,125 4,065 717 9,731 4,600 212%
Participated in business
development training 4,389 1,608 221 1,040 7,258 750 968%
Won business
competition 207 23 149 329 708 550 129%
New youth lead
enterprises. 276 122 77 357 832 400 208%
Entered employment 4,822 3,141 3,192 4,612 15,767 16,950 93%
Continue employment 4,328 2,245 2,627 3,839 13,039
Table 4: Key figures of the total overall performance to date
31
5.3. Efficiency
At the end of the second quarter of year-5, the OYE budget depletion reached 89.6%
with 6 more months to go. The budget control and monitoring has stepped up in the last
period and the consultants are of the opinion that the financial performance will be
remaining within the overall budget.
The variation between expenditure against planned budget for the countries varies from
86.2% for Tanzania, 89.8% for Rwanda and 98.7% for Mozambique (see Figure 4). The
total budget for Tanzania is higher for 2 reasons, one being the management costs for
the program being allocated to the TZ budget and the fact that 56% of the OYE youth
target population had been foreseen in Tanzania. The target for Rwanda and
Mozambique being 21% and 24% respectively.
Figure 4: Overview expenditure (Y1-Y5 Q2) per country in $
As can be observed in Figure 5, the major underspending occurred in year 2 with the
program improving on its delivering from year 3 onwards1. As the current year is still
ongoing, no final statement can be made on the performances, but the program seems
to be on track.
1 After Q3 of every year, a budget review was undertaken in order to minimize the variance at the end of each
year
32
Figure 5: Overview of expenditure versus budget (Y1- Y 5 Q2)
If we break down the program according to main categories in the budget lines, we
observe some interesting elements. Even though the Tanzania OYE budget includes the
management of the program, it hasn’t impacted significantly the distribution of the
allocation between the program costs. For instance, the program specific expenses vary
from 42%(Mozambique) to 52% (Rwanda) with OYE Tanzania with 47% in the middle.
Employee salaries and wages vary between 26% and 30%. Travel costs for Mozambique
are however rather high, which impacts on the amount available for program specific
expenses, as other costs are only a few percent varying between the countries. Local
travel costs in the provinces of Nampula, Tete and Zambezia were substantial with huge
distances to cover and unit costs per mile on the high side.
Interestingly the expenses for publication and printing is negligible in Tanzania, while
one would have expected the country that hosts the management also spend more
money on publications and printing while only 10,000 $ out of a budget of 28,000$ was
used. The budgets for this category were 3 times and 2 times higher for Rwanda and
Mozambique respectively.
33
Tanzania Rwanda Mozambique
Figure 6: Distribution of expenditures per country Y 1 to Y 5 Q2
The project has further identified 5 main categories of activities, being:
• A1 Program setup and Management of the program
• A2 Provide employment skills, with typically as activities,
o Technical skill trainings
o Basic life skills
o Youth identification
o Business skills training
• A3 Match skilled youth with market opportunities, with
o Internships and on the job training
o Internships for YLE leaders
o Mentoring and guidance of skilled youth
o Business plan development support YLE
o Market development support
• A4 Expand employment for youth, with
o Mentoring and guidance of skilled youth
o YLE establishment support
o Internships
o YLE support for access to financial services
o Coaching and market development support to YLE
• A5 Monitoring and learning
34
Figure 7: Overview of expenditure in $ by activity (Y1 – Y5 Q2), excluding the 9% program
delivery fee.
Figure 7 above provides the overall figures of the various activities as distilled from the
annual reports. These figures include all program activities, while for the purpose of
looking at the direct cost per youth the figure gives a distorted overview. For this
reason, we have tried to look only at those expenditures directly focusing on the youth.
The various countries have developed more or less detailed budget lines to account for
the expenditures.
For Tanzania we have tried to follow the distinction between agriculture and renewable
energy expenses, thus expecting to compare Rwanda with Tanzania RE and Mozambique
with Tanzania AG expenses. Figure 8 below presents a comparison between each
country and the emphasis on the activities A2 to A5 (excluding project management A1
that is only applicable to Tanzania)
Tanzania Rwanda Mozambique
Figure 8: Distribution of expenditure between the various program activities, excluding Activity A1
program setup and management
35
• Throughout the years, Tanzania has put a large focus on the provision of
employment skills, including Basic life skills, and technical trainings in the
subsectors, red meat, dairy, horticulture crops, ICS, briquettes, Biogas and solar.
Given the largest budget allocated to Tanzania this has been a substantial
amount.
• Rwanda and Mozambique spend almost 50% on the same component and
dedicating substantial amounts to the activities A3 (Match skilled youth with
market opportunities) and A4 (Expand employment for youth).
Figure 9: RE Rwanda per activity for Y1 to Y5
Q2
Figure 10: RE Tanzania per activity for Y1 to
Y5 Q2
Figure 11: AG Mozambique per activity for Y1
to Y5 Q2
Figure 12: AG Tanzania per activity for Y1 to
Y5 Q2
The above series of graphs (figure 7 to 10) show some interesting trends.
Mozambique
• Mozambique struggled with the start of the program during the first two years
and caught up in year three, Activity A2 remained important in year three and
36
four, resulting in some groups being established also late 2017/ early 2017,
which might jeopardize the sustainability of these groups.
• Nevertheless, the match became important in 2015/16 and the expansion of the
program in 2016/17 till 2017/18.
Rwanda
• Interestingly enough Rwanda spend from the start funds for both the technical
skills and the matching with the private sector.
• Year three was an important boast to youth enrolment and followed by a strong
emphasis on matching in year three and four and an increase in expansion of the
program in year 4 and 5
Tanzania
• The program started from the beginning with a focus on skill development
though, as in other countries, the investment in youth enrolment was more
apparently in year 3 and 4, catching up on youth enrolment2. This is
understandable given the “learn and improve while doing” approach that was
applied and provided the needed flexibility. The trends that can be observed in all
countries evidence as well that it would have been very interesting to prolong the
current program and continue efforts in the matching and the expansion of the
self-employment and enterprise development.
• It appears as if the matching component was more pronounced in the RE sector
as compared to the Agricultural sector, but comparatively both the matching and
the expansion of self-employment and enterprise development were allocated
less funds (%) as compared to Mozambique and Rwanda
Based on the analysis the consults have tried to link expenditure to the number of youth
enrolled, trained, entering in employment and enjoying continued employment.
The earlier mentioned difficulties with the monitoring system might explain the high
numbers in Mozambique as compared to the other countries especially in the field of
continued employment as compared to entered employment, with Mozambique scoring a
very high 96% in continued employment as compared to Tanzania (72 Ag, 56 RE) and
Rwanda (86 RE)
The field visit also indicated that not all trained youth went into employment and some
employments were not continued (Poultry keeping, horticulture etc). The more modest
figures of around 72% or 82% continued employment seem to be more realistic and are
2 Given the very detailed budget lines, the possibility that project related expenses have been allocated to
expenses among the three major program lines A2-A5 is a possibility that hasn’t been verified but could
influence the representation of the expenses between the three program lines. However total costs per country
and per sector are not influenced by this possible allocation effect.
37
proof of the interesting achievements of the OYE program. (see below Error! Reference
source not found.).
Trying to link program related costs to numbers of youth being: i) trained, 2) having
completed training, 3) entered employment and 4) continued employment provides the
following overview.
TZ ag TZ RE MZ ag RW RE Total
Enrolled 7423 4204 5011 4266 20904
Completed training 7063 3851 4584 4228 19726
Entered employment 4822 3141 4612 3192 15767
Continued employment 4328 2245 3839 2627 13039
Unit cost per enrolled youth 226 349 197 268 260
Unit costs per youth that
completed training 238 381 215 271 276
Unit cost per youth entering
employment 348 467 214 359 345
Unit costs per youth
continued employment 388 653 257 436 417
Total program related
expenditures 1,679,064 1,466,692 987,732 1,144,648 5,435,052
Table 5: Efficiency of the program only considering the program specific expenses Y1-Y5 Q2 in
US$
All in all, Mozambique remains on the low side with respect to unit costs per youth,
distinctively below the average of the other countries. Given the total project budget of
around 14 million-dollar, program related cost as compared to total costs is almost a
factor 3, an average of around 950$ per youth entering employment, with Renewable
energy in Tanzania being more expensive (between 35% and 56%), and agriculture in
Mozambique the least expensive (between 61 and 75% of the average costs).
5.4. Impact and outcomes
According to the received statistics, OYE has helped 15,767 youth to enter employment
in the three countries and supported 832 new youth led enterprise to be established in
the last 5 years. The figures may fluctuate in time till end of July, however, it is clear
38
that the extent of outreach is very close to or over the targets of this very ambitious
project. Rwanda and Tanzania have come close to their targets of 97% in Rwanda with
renewable energy and in Tanzania 81% in agriculture and 88% in renewable energy
regarding the entered employment Mozambique scores even 111% with 462 youth
entering employment over the target number of 4150. All countries reached their targets
for the new youth led enterprises of 212% and 122% in Tanzania for agriculture resp.,
renewable energy; 110% for Rwanda and 357% for Mozambique.
The evaluation team has confirmed during their field trips that most OYE youth is
organized in groups or cooperatives of at least 10-15 members, frequently as well
engaged in youth savings and loans associations and are generating income with group
activities, often in one of the OYE subsectors. The team also met with some single
person youth-led-enterprises. The youth that were met claim that they have benefitted
strongly from the OYE trajectory to employment opportunities, starting with a change of
mindset, and self-awareness through the BLS training, business orientation, technical
skills, to respective other trainings and mentoring, and group security/leadership and
access to loans through the YSLAs. These achievements were strengthened in
subsequent visits of the LSPs in which they provided coaching and mentoring for the
embedding of the skills, knowledge and empowerment of the youth. The OYE youth is
able to adhere to group rules and regulations, to identify and start up small business
opportunities, to generate income, to save and pay back loans and to diversify their
sources of income.
In Tanzania, the activities that were undertaken by the OYE youth on individual basis
after having gone/while going through the OYE trajectory, have varied from agricultural
production to trade in maize, beans, horticulture and livestock, mainly poultry and goats,
in some cases ducks and rabbits. Also, start-up of beauty shops and barber shops was
popular as well as of stationary and grocery shops. In some cases, the YLEs engaged in
processing and packaging (e.g. spices) and food addition, such as the production of
rosella whine depending on the technical training/internships they received.
From their revenues and profits, the youth have bought plots and built houses, they
have reinvested in their businesses or in their YSLAs, they have been able to help family
and siblings with school fees and hospital bills, some of them have been able to go back
to school.
We can confidently say that the project has achieved its objective through the
implementation of its push-match-pull model, with the total package and pathway
towards opportunities for employment that was provided.
5.5. Sustainability
The youth that were met during the field visits, all are confident that they will be able to
continue their YSLAs, that they will be able to continue saving and lending, that they will
find markets and opportunities to continue income generating activities that will be used
for new activities and in the end to buy land, build houses and buy cattle or goats.
39
The youth have been empowered to assess the local markets, master business
development, risk assessment, prices setting, and profit making.
While there were already private sector engagements in year 1, for instance with the
Tanzania Meat Company and solar companies in TZ and RW (as well as Biogas
Construction Enterprises in Rwanda), OYE has invested much effort in interesting Private
Companies as well as Financial Institutions for engagement with OYE supported youth
after the MTR.
In relation to the enhanced link to the Financial Institutions, in Tanzania as well as in
Rwanda, some interesting initiatives have been developed but have not fully
accomplished yet, such as the SAT Apex saving and loans initiative, the link to FINCA
and the 5% council funds, and the collaboration with BDF respectively. It remains to be
seen how these young developments will evolve in the time without the back-up of the
OYE project.
With the Local Governments, there seems to be more opportunities for longer term
commitment. Since the project collaborated with the LGAs from the beginning and have
grown into a mutually beneficial collaboration in most cases, the relationship is mature
and whenever possible LGAs will support rural youth in connecting to opportunities. In all
countries, “youth employment” is on the development agenda of local governments, but
youth remains a difficult target group for the government officials to approach. The
general trend is that the LGAs happily tap into the readily available OYE groups,
selecting their representatives and especially inviting the successful entrepreneurs to
show case during events and fairs/exhibitions how well the district is doing in terms of
youth employment.
The LSPs have, in the very beginning of the project, been introduced to the model of the
project and have been involved in the development of the training modules. The LSPs
who joined the project later, participated in ToT on BLS, YSLA and business development
to the youth groups by OYE TAs. It is mainly during the quarterly meetings with OYE
staff that they have learned from the self-assessments and gained insights on how to
proceed.
Considering the volatile environment in terms of business environment, in particular for
the youth in all countries, it is the strengthened resilience capacity of the youth that will
be most important for the sustainability of the acquired improved livelihoods.
5.6. Gender
The project was late in making specific efforts to involve women in the project
enrolment, trainings and other elements of the pathway. Women are bound by their
domestic family tasks and have not the same flexibility in terms of mobility, decision
making power, space to express needs and opinions or access to finance as men
generally have in the household and in society in all three countries. This has impact on
the type of activities they can participate in (access to land, and inputs, heavy labour,
40
absence from home, etc.), the time of the meetings (household chores in the evenings),
internships and participation in fairs and exhibitions (husbands do not allow).
After the MTR, the country teams have focused more specifically on the participation of
the women in the program and have been able to increase the number of the young
women substantially even though the target of 40% has not yet been attained (36% of
women among the realised numbers and 37% against original target). It proofs that if
extra effort is made it is possible to attract more women to join in and benefit from the
project.
It was established that certain sectors are more women friendly than others, such as
horticulture or ICS activities, which are easier to manage for young women (often
mothers). Mozambique has enrolled more young women than the other countries, while
there the young women are also already mothers at a very young age. Rwanda has
enrolled the least, while it was in Rwanda where the women in the groups were most
vocal and confident, for example more than the women met during the field visits in
Tanzania.
Photo 9: Hot Chili women group in Mozambique with their nursery. Men came from a horticulture group, wanted to see how chili was doing.
This is a 100% women group and the growing of chili as a cash crop is also very
women-friendly as once the transplanting is done, apart from the regular
weeding, harvesting (multiple seasons) is an ongoing process (3 to 4 months
period) that allows some flexibility and can be done at their convenience. This
group started only in January 2018 with the BLS training. The planning is to
plant 5 ha in 2018 while the final area is intended to be 10 ha. So far .5 ha has
been transplanted, and the plants in the nursery have partly overstayed without
being transplanted as the labour, which is the responsibility of Matharya
Empreendimentos has been delayed. Apart from labour the company provides
the seeds and the land. Per kg of fresh chili, they will receive 20 meticais.
41
Estimated yield is 10 tons/ha (however this depends on the variety: Capsicum
Frutescens 4 to 10 t/ha and Capsicum Chinense 8-20 t/ha) provided fertilizer
is applied. If they would reach the 10 t/ha they would have a sales value of
200,000 meticais per ha. Before engaging as in-growers they were often
growing Tabaco as a Tabaco company is in the area, which would give them
between 5,000 to 30,000 meticais of income per year.
With the future benefits they would like to invest in their houses, transport
(motor cycle), other business opportunities and addressing first needs of the
household.
In Tanzania, it is more common (to ensure women’s participation) to form groups of
uniquely women that constitute a YSLA and manage the group according to their own
pace. In one case, the consultant was introduced to a large and solid group of women
that had done very well with their YSLA. Some of their husbands, who were not
interested in the beginning, now wanted to join the group. The first man that did join,
also was the first group member that did not repaid his loan and left the group with a
debt. It also disturbed the group dynamics, though the men hardly participated in the
meetings. They only bought shares and took loans.
Photo 10: Nguvukazi women’s group in Morogoro (originally horticulture)
One could argue that it is better not to allow any men in women’s groups. However, in
some cases, husbands were encouraged to join the women’s group because they were
worried about the whereabouts of their wives and also did not allow the wives to
participate in group activities outside the village, such as participation in trade fairs or
exhibitions. In order to motivate them to allow more space to their wives they were
invited to join the group.
One of the limitations for gender mainstreaming that the program has tried to tackle
after the MTR is the competency, commitment and affinity of the staff with the
42
importance of this component as well as the need for specific budget allocation for
gender mainstreaming activities.
Comparing numbers for male youth and female youth against planned targets provides
the following information for the various program results.
Figure 13: Comparison results against targets (male youth)
Figure 14: Comparison results against targets (female Youth)
43
Above figures are slightly distorted as there was more male enrolment then female
enrolment than planned for, hence easier to reach male targets as female targets.
Statistically correcting this (a factor .925 for male and 1.076 for female) provides the
situation for both male and female enrolment to the original 100%. By doing so, female
youth scored significantly lower in establishing youth led enterprises (284% male and
64% female of the target) and being winners in business competitions (141% of the
target and 100% of female youth, so on target).
Women participated relatively more frequent in business development training. Using
the corrected figures, it shows that the number of female youth and male youth entering
employment are almost equal with a slightly higher figure for female youth as for male
youth.
Figure 15: Corrected comparison results against targets (male youth)
Figure 16: Corrected comparison results against targets (female youth)
44
Factored realised
figures Male
Factored realised figures
Female
Enrolled in program 100.00 100.00
Successfully completed training 109.64 112.11
Participated in internship 213.88 196.24
Participated in BD training 859.74 1,104.95
Won business competition 141.36 99.85
New youth lead enterprises. 284.61 63.27
Entered employment 90.68 92.17
Continue employment
Table 6: Correction for compensating for more male enrolment and less female enrolment
6. Conclusions
Given the condensed period for generating results, the project has done a commendable
job.
Changing mindsets, transmitting difficult messages that are understood and assimilated,
with such clear positive impact on individual basis, organizing a, by many considered,
challenging category of the population in such big numbers is impressive.
The Push-Match-Pull Model works
Push-Match-Pull turns out to be a Pull-Match-Push-Match-Pull model and it works,
especially because the model includes components like YSLA, gender mainstreaming and
longer-term coaching and mentoring for at least one year. This longer interaction needs
sufficient funds and competent LSPs.
The thinking that the model needs to start with a specific sector orientation as an entry
point to engage with the youth, can be defended as a way to attract the youth, to be
able to assess the market and to establish the PULL and Match factors. This has been a
key strategic choice as part of the OYE model by design, that has proven to work well
during the implementation.
Many of the youth have indicated to want a larger choice of sectors to engage in (and be
supported technically), but it could be argued that the ‘limitation’ of OYE in AG and RE
has given OYE focus. In the end, most of OYE youth themselves were able to diversify
their initiatives and activities to other sectors outside AG and RE.
45
However, with regard to Tanzania, one could argue with hindsight that the strict
separation of the AG and RE projects has been too rigid and should have been handled
much more flexibly (also using opportunities for combinations of the two).
Time frame too condensed
Project is well on its way to maturity and about to obtain sustainable results, but too
short for lasting impact for all those that have been involved. Even though the project
has much invested in creating links with the Private Sector and Financial Institutions
especially after 2016, the project has not been able to create reliable links for the youth
with them yet. The team has been introduced to some promising initiatives and the
enthusiasm was felt for commitment and wanting to try out. It will surely need more
time before these relationships are further developed/crystalized and solidly established
for the coming years.
Resilience in self-employment.
We would like to argue that the aim of youth empowerment projects targeting
employment, should be “resilience in self-employment” in terms of capacity of the youth
to cope with ever changing circumstances whether it is weather /climate change driven
or policies and markets that constantly change. OYE has been able in most cases to
prepare the OYE youth to be entrepreneurial, economically empowered and resilient,
diversifying their businesses and sources of income. The participation in solid YSLAs
groups is key for the resilience.
Youth is a workable target group
Since the beginning, youth identification and (self-) selection have been accompanied by
clear information about the need for youth to invest their time and possibly some own
resources, and OYE not being a ‘hand-out’ project – which at times discouraged some
youth. The approach was developed to attract their attention and interest despite these
restrictions, make them understand the concept and to keep them focused. Once they
have understood, they are committed, often disciplined, and creative in finding
opportunities. The deliberate choice not to hand out money during training, often
considered a way to attract youth, has proven its legitimacy, as participating youth were
intrinsic interested in changing their own livelihoods.
46
Photo 11: Amarula farm youth in sesame and mung bean in Mozambique
Special attention for the participation of young women is a must
It is not automatic that women will participate in OYE project activities. There is need for
specific attention and approach, time investment and therefore budget to include young
women. Some sectors have turned out to be more suitable for women participation such
as solar subsector, ICS, horticulture and poultry.
YSLAs and their registration is key for the sustainability of the groups
YSLAs are the stabilizing pillar and gluing factor for the youth because it forces them to
function as a group. They create leadership, they serve as a social security net, they
provide access to funding to start a business. They are also functional the whole year
round, while many of the activities, whether group activities or individual activities, are
mostly seasonal and therefore the YSLAs allows to survive in low seasons. The
registration at the district council of the YSLA makes them more solid and allows the
groups to access loans and to receive technical support from the district. It gives a sense
of formality and identity to its members.
The registration of groups at this moment in time, as formal businesses with a relevant
agency, such as BRELA in Tanzania, needs to be assessed properly. Of course, in time
these enterprises need to be formalized, pay taxes and adhere to the rules and
regulations like everybody else at some point, but they need to be given the time and
space to become strong enough to generate sufficient money to survive and live up to
those requirements at the same time.
The support of the local government is crucial on the long term
The local governments that were encountered were all positive and supportive of the
OYE youth. It is hoped that they will be able to continue to mentor and coach the groups
when necessary.
47
M&E framework and monitoring system need to be adequately integrated from the
beginning.
While a trial and error period is helpful in the development of the project, a number of
basic indicators need to be followed from day one to the end, otherwise it is very hard to
show fair results. While the program did develop a monitoring framework, its
implementation was not without challenges. These challenges are partly from a technical
perspective and partly form an operational perspective. From a technical perspective,
the setup of the database and hence its additional value to generate reports and monitor
progress turned out complex. This was partly due to finding the right balance in the level
of detail, the use of phone-based data tracking and uploading information in the system
(multiple data sets, difficult to link individual progress reports to the initial registration
dataset etc). Countries have experienced different challenges and found ways around it
to obtain useful information out of the system.
Some issues could have been solved by providing youth with an ID card with a QR code
that could have been read by the LSP and would have eliminated multiple errors, and or
avoided registration people with two ID numbers as they operate in two distinct sectors
or subsectors.
Question to be addressed as well is whether such an interesting program should not as
well collect qualitive data as part of the monitoring system. The program does include
collecting qualitative data, mostly gather by recording anecdotes or preparing youth
evidence (movies, YouTube), though conducting more qualitative monitoring of the
transition the youth is going through from day one to the (self) employment after one
year might be an interesting option for the future.
From an operational perspective, M&E does cost time, especially in such a complex
environment with youth. Allocating sufficient time is essential and the project allocated
at the overall level a less-then-half time advisor to set-up the system and provide
monitoring guidance to other countries. This might not have been sufficient to
adequately address the M&E framework development and subsequent monitoring and
analysis.
Different countries interpret certain concepts very pragmatic given the context in which
they operate. This results in difficulties in comparing results between the countries. One
of such variations was observed in the way countries defined youth-led enterprises. As
long as this is acknowledged, the M&E specialist can try to harmonize certain concepts
for assessing information between the participating countries.
Another operational challenge and difference was linked to the frequency and continuity
in monitoring youth. In agriculture in Tanzania the youth was monitored per year,
meaning every year only the enrolled youth of that year were monitored. The OYE
youngsters from last year were not followed or entered anymore. Only in year 4 this
practice changed, with OYE staff and LSP trying to catch up with them again. At the
same time, in OYE youth participating in renewable energy in Tanzania were all followed
during the 5 years, as was the case in the other two countries.
48
7. Lessons learned:
7.1. Lessons learned overall
Project Design allowing for trial and error:
Instead of investing much in research and context analysis in preparation of this project,
it was decided by program management in consultation with Mastercard Foundation to
start without knowing everything beforehand, while following a path of trial and error.
The evaluation team thinks that this was a good decision, because it allowed for shaping
the project along the way. Considering the volatile environment of the chosen sectors
and differences in available capacity in the different countries, the project was able to
adjust accordingly after having gained and accumulated experiences.
Secure funding from the start of the project for mentoring and coaching as well as for
gender mainstreaming
The project has proven that mentoring and coaching is of great influence for the success
of the sustainability of the groups and the resilience of the youth. The same is true for
gender mainstreaming. For gender mainstreaming, leadership from within is very
important combined with the necessary allocation of funds to support gender
mainstreaming. On both aspects more, conscious steering in needed. Both components
need additional funding allocation, priority setting and time as well as capacity for the
successful implementation of these components.
Time needed for making a sustainable impact
The evaluators are of the opinion that with the chosen target group and their
backgrounds more time is needed for building groups and consolidate them. We found
that the groups with the very young members (under 20) are more difficult to keep
together, while they are most vulnerable and in need of support. It takes time to gain
their trust and to help them understand basic concepts for survival in a business
environment.
Support and regular communication as well as joint planning and assessing
performances with the LSPs
In the modality that OYE is using for the implementation of the project, much is
expected from the LSPs. They need to have a minimum of in house capacity and
experience in working with beneficiaries directly.
The project budget did not provide for substantial investment in LSP capacity building. In
Tanzania and Mozambique this was an omission. When OYE undertook a financial
management ‘audit’ of LSPs in Tanzania together with OYE SDC, it found out that
addressing all the existing internal management needs of the LSP could not be
addressed by existing budget.
49
On the other hand, depending on the capacity of the LSPs it could be imagined that
instead of local service providers, strategic partners, or organisations that have a
national thematic expertise such as finance, organic farming, nutrition, renewable
energy expertise that can transcend the level of (solar) companies, etc. can become
project partners in order to create sustainability. In which case, also, the after-project
trajectory is to be included in the agreements, for example by continuing the OYE
activities directly in collaboration with the Private Sector Partners, LGAs and others who
are supporting the youth.
In order to facilitate the efficiency (reduced costs) and effectiveness (# number of
mentoring visits) of services, the distance between localities that need to be served is
important.
Internships based on cost sharing basis
The approach of Result Based Performance payment for the internships to the PSs may
have looked justified to motivate the PSs in the beginning and show them the benefits of
employing and supporting the youth as a WIN-WIN for them. But, the early payment
(cost-share for youth training) to private sector companies affected the business-
relationship that OYE wanted to achieve between companies and youth. It also has
created precedents, which have changed, and some companies find it hard to accept: a
few cases of companies stubbornly wanted to enter the project and be paid as a service
provider, which OYE declined.
Start-up kits when in partnership with a financial institution
As is typical of youth, they are impatient and argue that start up kits and seed capital for
the YSLAs would have been much better to boost enterprises and to earn money quicker.
In addition, especially in the food processing sector, there is need for special equipment
and tools for the youth to start up a business. However, we would like to argue that this
would nurture the expectation of the youth of holding up their hands for receiving funds,
something the project would like to avoid by all means. The project has tried out several
strategies for the groups to access start up materials, such as the awards they could win
during the boot-camp experience, but this turned out to be very expensive. The experience
to link the youth to Ruka Juu in Tanzania, which is an initiative of Femina Hip for young
entrepreneurs competing on TV for awards in the form of start-up kits, was very much
appreciated. However, this only will benefit the happy few. The best way would be to
include a financial institution as partner within the project, who could than provide for
starter-kits linked to access to finances.
No big loans for starting groups
We also would like to reflect on the risks that youth sometimes have to take by taking
big loans or find other investment options in order to be able start a challenging
business opportunity, either in value chains or in the processing industry. Without having
the experience and knowing the in-and-outs of a particular business, the youth are
overconfident/tempted to take loans to invest in business opportunities so that they can
50
engage with a particular company. When it doesn’t work out, it might leave them more
vulnerable than before.
Based on the experience, OYE has improved on the calculations of the “matching
conditions” (including investments needed and where the money would come from), so
that youth have a clear picture of the potential risk before entering an opportunity that
may be a too heavy burden for them.
The OYE program should perhaps suggest such more risk full opportunities only to youth
who have proven their strengths in working together or shown maturity in previous
engagements. The reflection is whether it is fair to direct the youth to such initiatives at
this moment in time (when they are still vulnerable and not strong) and whether OYE
should build in/advocate for a mechanism (insurance?) in the agreements with the
private sector in these cases.
Market scan beyond localities and country borders
Market scans are now often done by LSPs, which are locality bound and therefore not
look very far for markets or they are done by youth them-selves who are limited in
scope between village and town. OYE has now reached a stage whereby it can expand its
market assessments and make them more systemic within and across selected sectors.
For example, look at contracts with PSs at a larger scale for CIP even beyond countries.
CIP in Mozambique could also be interesting in TZ. The same applies for the solar
companies that are active in the different countries, such as Mobisol, and Sun-King and
others.
7.2. Lessons learned in each of the sectors
Agriculture
Contract farming:
Contract farming has a good potential in both Tanzania and Mozambique. There exists
however a small doubt on the contract farming arrangements that are in some cases
in place in Mozambique, especially in the case of Amarula farms and the women
group dealing with hot pepper. Farmers are in both cases in-growers whereby the
contractor is not, at the moment, engaged in growing the same crop, either since he
doesn’t have the operational capacity to develop the land by his own and/ or in the
case of Amarula farms due to the earlier mentioned family tragedy, or is starting a
new opportunity in the case of the women group in hot pepper. Technical knowhow is
now provided mainly by SNV and not by the company. This might change again if
Amarula farms is starting its own production, something which is anticipated. If
Amarula farms is again involved in the cropping, they could easily ensure the best
agricultural practices training, having direct interest in maintaining high standards.
51
Agriculture
Amarula farm used to have a demonstration plot on their farm for technical training
purposes, nut it is not clear whether this demonstration plot is still in place.
Horticulture:
Potential exist for these groups especially if they have year-long access to water and
can play the market whenever others are less likely to produce. In Mozambique they
are addressing directly the local markets but would love to engage directly with
Hotels and or supermarkets to provide these with inputs. Having a high local
agricultural potential, importing horticultural product from SA might prove not to be a
sustainable solution as compared to local opportunities.
Most horticulture farmers in Tanzania while being organized in YSLA groups and
conducting business activities together, they operate on an individual basis in the
horticulture, mainly in crops like tomatoes, pili pili, sesame, and okras, while in
Mozambique the tendency is to invest and collaborate as a group of 5 to 10 people in
cultivating collectively 1.5 ha to 5 ha
Poultry
Poultry when implemented on a small scale, often promoted by women groups both
in MZ as in TZ, as opposed to chicks raising as a more commercial activity, seems to
be successful and is considered a low-risk business initiative.
On the other hand, the more commercial variant, even though more profitable,
requires higher investments from both the youth and the company involved. External
factors like the financial crises and subsequent decline in demand, impact directly the
opportunities. It was learned that in Mozambique, the company halted its outsourced
operations, nevertheless, most youth were able to recover their investment costs.
Food value addition
The drying and processing of products itself demands relatively high investments.
Packaging and sorting are possible entry points for the youth, even though youth
might not directly be engaged in the activity itself. Introducing youth in
understanding quality requirements at the “farm gate” can certainly be an added
asset in the value chain development.
Trade of agriproducts
Trade of agriproducts is flexible and adjustable to fluctuations in the markets, which
youth need to understand as well. This should be part of the business training and
make youth aware how they can mitigate / anticipate such fluctuations. Access to
market information via mobile phone networks. Adequate storage conditions and
capacity is important. Simple technology is needed for storage improvements
52
Table 7: Lessons learned agricultural sector
Renewable energy
ICS:
Accessible for all the youth and much appreciated by the most vulnerable. Many
women find employment in the ICS sector, either in the pottery part of the cookstove
or in the retailing part of the business. Looks like the market is more promising in
Tanzania as compared to Rwanda. This could be linked to more “campaigning and
awareness raising” in Tanzania for the ICS sector while Rwanda has more focussed on
Biogas promotion.
Solar:
Solar provides opportunities, both as commission-based retailers as for in-house
employment. There is a difference between the companies operating in the market,
whereby several companies provide the lower-priced, more affordable range of
products. These products range from a few simple lights to a system with an option
with a small tv. Most youth involved in this group of products are commission-based
retailers. Within the ranks of retailers there exist the positions of coordinators and
supervisors as well. Coordinators and supervisors receive an additional monthly
bonus and are considered employees of the companies. Mobisol is focussing on the
higher end of the solar product range and these products require fixed installation at
the residences. Youth at Mobisol receive a more technical training and have to prove
their skills and capabilities at the end of the in-house training period. These
companies seem to attract the more educated youth depending. Positions are either
installation technician or sales agent, the latter as well commission-based.
Solar is in general women-friendly as youth have a lot of flexibility in their time
allocation. There is however a target to reach on the number of units to be sold per
youth in a given period. Not reaching the target over a certain period will result in
disengagement between the company and the youth.
Biogas
Has done well in Rwanda and is still pursuing, in some areas focusing more on
maintenance. Market opportunities force technicians to look beyond district’s
boundaries to find sufficient demand for their services. Biogas attracts both men and
women though the majority of the youth involved in biogas are men. Often these
youth are organised in youth-led enterprises and the youth is paid for the number of
days they have contributed in a particular construction. The activity required youth to
have a background as a mason.
Tanzania has abandoned this sub sector.
53
Renewable energy
Briquettes
Briquettes are a promising product in Tanzania and the quality seems to be more
advanced, leading to higher energy efficiencies as compared to Rwanda. Biogas has
been high on the agenda in Rwanda as an alternative to fire-wood and charcoal use.
Briquette use is only relatively recently promoted as a viable alternative but the
technology is yet less refined. Working from a cross border perspective on this
technology, bringing in technology and experiences from Tanzania could (have)
provide(d) an additional boost to youth opportunities in the sector.
Table 8: Lessons learned renewable energy sector
Photo 12: Improved Cooks Stoves in Moshi Photo 13: Improved Cooks Stoves in Rwanda
54
Annex 1: Findings Tanzania
1.1. General information since MTR (Oct 2016):
1.1.1. Country background
OYE has been engaged with two sectors namely agriculture and renewable energy in
Tanzania, in 10 regions, with 30 LSPs and about 14 PSPs. Two sector leaders and 4
technical advisors are supervising the MCF program, with support of an M&E advisor
(40%) and Financial support (??%) staff from the country office. Plus an additional 4
volunteers that support with verification, project implementation, etc. In Tanzania there
is also the OYE SDC program implemented in the “Central Corridor” of Tanzania.
1.1.2. Sector and subsectors
OYE Tanzania has opted to engage into two sectors, namely agriculture and renewable
energy.
In agriculture, a wide range of subsectors were promoted as the “Pull” subsectors. (See
for an overview of the different subsectors, chapter 1.7 in this annex 1). The consultant
met with groups in Morogoro, Moshi and Arusha that were involved in horticulture and
food value addition. Contrary to the other two countries, not many of the groups (that
were met) engaged in these subsectors as a joint activity. However, individually, group
members were involved in producing and processing horticulture products. Poultry
keeping and trading is profitable and popular, with potentially high returns on
investment IF minimum requirements are fulfilled and the chickens are taken care. Trade
in agricultural and household products between villages and towns is another popular
small business opportunity mostly of individuals.
In the renewable energy sector, only ICS and solar seem to have continued since 2016.
Biogas is no longer on the agenda (since Feb 2016), while some of the groups that
started in biogas in the beginning of the project still exist and now have evolved doing
other activities, such as brick making. In ICS, there is a clear demand for the model that
is being promoted by OYE, with a metal and a clay part (different from Rwanda). The
groups are concentrated around the location where clay is available and exported to
other regions and to Dar es Salaam. In both solar and ICS, the groups are jointly doing
the renewable energy activities as opposed to agriculture. They have, however, other
activities on an individual basis at the side.
Solar energy products have a market in Tanzania also in areas where the grid is
established, especially the lanterns and involvement with the companies have clear
benefits for the youth. This subsector has been affected by a recent adopted policy which
demanded for an increase in taxation of solar products and a number of companies have
left Tanzania, such as Juabar, with which OYE youth was working. OYE has been strongly
55
engaged with Mobisol in the first period, but due to the changes in approach (no
payment for internships anymore) the OYE youth are now directly engaging with Mobisol
without the involvement of OYE or the LSPs.
1.2. Assessment for youth
Relevance
Without doubt, OYE provided for a real need with rural out-of-school youth in Tanzania
in terms of self-awareness (tambua), business orientation, technical skills development,
and access to finance. The majority of the youth met had finished their primary
education but about 50% had finished form 4 and only very few finished form 5 and 6 of
secondary school. They were previously surviving by practicing traditional agriculture
and some trade activities. It is clear that the support package/pathway, that OYE has
offered is relevant and effective. All interviewed youth claim to have tremendously
benefitted from the trajectory that they have gone through, mentioning Basic Life Skills
as well as technical, and Business Development skills, which have turned their lives
around.
The introduction of the YSLA concept, the accompanying the start-up kits and the close
mentoring and coaching were key for the youth in the groups to build trust, meet up
regularly, become committed, in order to access loans and generate income.
Related to the choice of the sectors, one can say that the majority of the youth are
involved already in traditional agriculture to survive and any improvement has impact.
The choice of the subsectors or specific value chains (e.g. maize, beans, horticulture,
poultry, soap making, rosella whine production, etc.) was, however, less clear: based on
the competency of the LSP? Or based on the market for youth employment? Or based on
the which products were missing on the local market? The youth involved in agriculture,
almost without exception, have indicated they would appreciate to have a larger choice
of PULL subsectors.
In relation to the national policies, agriculture is currently not much supported by the
government. Since the current President came into power (2015), the agriculture sector
is not one of the priority sectors anymore. Focus is on industrialization (FYDP II) and
infrastructure.
At the start of the project, the OYE Renewable Energy sector was hoping to benefit from
the SNV engagement in the Tanzania Biogas Development Project, that was promoted by
the Dutch Government (and others). However, that program ended, including the
subsidies, which made it unattractive for the Tanzanian rural population to purchase the
expensive digesters. However, ICS and solar energy are still very relevant in the context
of rural areas due to reduced availability of firewood and charcoal and even more in the
urban context. At the same time, the electricity grid has been impressively extended far
into rural areas. Therefore, the most popular solar products are the lanterns, which can
be used when the grid is failing (which is regularly).
56
Impact
In Tanzania, the program has been successful in generating opportunities for youth
employment in the two sectors. According to the monitoring results, more opportunities
have been found in the agriculture than in the renewable energy.
During the field visits, this success was confirmed. In agriculture as well as in renewable
energy, young men and women found ways to generate revenue through small
businesses at individual level, by doing joint activities in the group or by being part of an
YSLA. Most employment that was under contract either as permanent employee, as sales
agents and free lancers was in the solar sector. Fewer youth in the agriculture sector
found work that was under contract, for example as out growers. However, they found
opportunities for mostly self-employed businesses.
The majority of met youth claimed to have benefitted most from the self-
confidence/awareness, the business orientation and the participation in the YSLA. They
either use the revenue generated (esp. from solar) to contribute to the YSLA and with
the savings and loan from there invest in a new business activity which then generates
more revenues, etc. Or they start saving first for a while before they are able to start a
business based on their own market scan. They would have wished to get more technical
training in the subsector that they have identified as potential local market. The LSP
were however not equipped to respond to that need (e.g. MWAYODEO and Waridi).
Almost all youth met have been engaging in small scale business activities individually
and are understanding the mechanism to use the little money they have to generate
income gradually and in steps.
Effectiveness
According to the monitoring information, in total 8,127 (out of 10,913 trained Youth) has
entered employment, of which 4,822 in agriculture and 3,305 in renewable energy,
which constitutes 81% resp. 88% of the target.
The number of new youth led enterprises (YLE) was another indicator that showed the
effectiveness of the program. The monitoring information indicates that 276 YLEs are
active in agriculture against 150 targeted and 122 YLEs in renewable energy against 100
targeted. And, therefore, both largely exceeded their targets (212% resp. 122%). It
remains to be discussed what exactly is considered a YLE and how the LSPs who submit
the information for the database have used the terminology. For example, it became
clear in the discussion with the LSPs in Arusha that for one of them the criteria of having
a business plan is applied and for the other it is not, to be called YLE. In another case,
the groups were even registered with BRELA to qualify for YLE.
Efficiency
The geography of the country and the choice to be engaged in 10 regions, that each
cover considerable surfaces and are located far from each other, had consequences for
the management of the project in Tanzania in terms of establishing sub offices. In
57
addition, the fact that two sectors were involved instead of one (as in Rwanda and
Mozambique) has implications for the capacity needed and the team composition.
Another deliberate choice, namely to focus on the rural areas, to find the youth and their
needs had consequence for the approach
The evaluation team has tried to assess the M&E plan, mechanism and database in
Tanzania. Unfortunately, we were not able to use the database in TZ. Monitoring took
place through the LSPs who submitted monthly reports, which were checked by the OYE
TA (and volunteers) as much as possible. MCF also conducted a statistical review of the
figures that were presented. Further analysis on the M&E system is provided in the main
report.
Based on the information received, we can state that all indicators related to the outputs
in agriculture were reached or even over reached, such as enrolment, (7423=103%),
successfully completed training (7063=116%). The number of youth participating in
internships in year 1 to 4 is much higher that was targeted (2794=310%). While asking
about internships in the field, it was not very clear what was included: some mentioned
that there was on-the-job training but only few had participated in internships (to
verify). Another indicator that was much higher than the target, was the participation of
the youth in business development training. In Tanzania, 4,391 youth participated in
BDS training, which constituted 2196% of the target. The reason is that the Advanced
BDS training has been integrated into the mentoring and coaching approach and
therefore could reach many more youth then planned for originally. Another
improvement was that the advanced Business development support was included in the
performance contracts with the LSPs.
Also, in renewable energy, the targets for the participation in the BDS training and the
internships were largely fulfilled, namely 1608= 804% and 2125=142% respectively.
Sustainability
All the groups, that were visited, that have YSLAs, and are functional for more than one
year, feel that they can continue without additional support from the project or anyone
else. They will connect to the LGAs or other NGOs for support in technical issues. The
younger groups are less stable, younger in terms of “not yet functional for one year” and
also related to the age of the members. Between 18-25 or between 25-30 years old
members in the group makes a big difference in sustainability perspectives. The fact that
the project stops at this point, will surely have impact on the sustainability of the gained
results so far. Some encountered groups, that have only started in 2017, would have
needed at least one more year to become more consolidated and have better chance for
sustainability.
Gender
OYE Tanzania has made quite some effort to catch up with the involvement of young
women in the program. For example, one of the measures was to include the condition
for the LSPs to have at least one women field coordinator in the LSP team in the
58
contracts. In the agriculture sector, training sessions were conducted in the field instead
of the nearest town, so that women could join in. The results are that many more
women enrolled and benefitted from the OYE trajectory. However, it was also observed
that women in the groups were still very shy. For example, in one women’s group that
was encountered that had proven to be profitable for its members, the group leader was
very shy, had to consult the others to answer each question. The same group has been
entered by men recently (after 5 years) who wanted to join to benefit as well. In most
groups that were met, the women were shy to speak up. In the Tanzanian culture
especially in rural areas, women are not supposed to speak in public, which may be the
main reason, however, the experience elsewhere in Tanzania is that women who have
been economically empowered also are more vocal. The project should further
strengthen this aspect in the future by starting to enhance gender sensitivity with the
OYE TA as well as the LSPs.
1.3. Partners and stakeholders
1.3.1. LSPs (in total 30 )
Before the MTR, OYE Tanzania had built up a large pool of LCBs, who were “distributed”
between the concerned regions, the sectors and parts of the trajectory to support
supervised by 2 OYE TAs and their sector leaders (2). This meant that the same group
would be supervised by several LSPs who had to run around this large country to provide
services to many groups with long distances in between those groups. Shortly after, it
was understood that this was not the ideal way of working and the tasks per LSP
changed from specific interventions per youth/group, such as only BLS or BDS, or
technical training, to support to the whole trajectory per group. Some LSPs, therefore,
had to buy-in technical expertise. In some cases, LSPs had to cover both sectors,
agriculture AND renewable energy. This is the result of balancing the availability of
qualified LSPs close to where the youth are, with the need for support and the costs to
mentor and coach them.
Based on the recommendation of the MTR team, the contracts with the LCBs have been
revised and longer-term agreements on an annual basis (instead of 3 monthly basis)
have been signed in mid/end 2016. In March-April 2017, an overall review and “audit” of
the (now called) LSPs has taken place with a capacity building component in financial
management for those that needed strengthening and that still were in the race. Some
LSPs had to go and be replaced. The number of LSPs has been reduced from 30 to 19.
The contracts have drastically changed, of which the biggest shift was that LSPs were
paid on the basis of timely deliverables instead on financial justifications as was
previously the case. In the new contracts the same LSP is responsible for the whole
trajectory and ensures mentoring and coaching as well.
LSPs come from different backgrounds, for example TACADECO is a consultancy
company, SIDO a government agency, MWAYODEO and SAT are NGOs. The experience
with SIDO shows that it may be beneficial for youth to engage with them: easy access to
59
the 5% loans for youth of the districts, subsidies on agricultural and processing
equipment, and easy engagement with Private Sector companies.
It can be concluded that the availability and presence of a qualified LSP is the starting
point for being in a certain region and to select the subsector based on their available
expertise as Pull factor (e.g. SAT, SIDO).
1.3.2. PSPs (14)
The Private Sector was mainly involved in the renewable energy, and notably in solar
energy. For agriculture, horticulture and poultry it seems to be difficult to find companies
interested to participate still. Only SIDO has found 5 Companies willing to take in youth
for internships (in the visited areas). Also, HomeVeg trained the youth to produce and
sort fresh vegetables for the export to Europe as out-growers.
The annual report of year 4 mentions the OYE engagement with the following PSPs:
1. Tanzania Meat Company (TMC)
2. Chobo investment meat company
3. Mgolole meat company
4. TAISH Agribusiness farm
5. Mpilika Leather Products
6. Pinda Agribusiness farm
7. Ikhanoda Resources Centre
8. Prime poultry farm
9. Dorkia enterprises
10. Ujilulu investment
11. H & M Agrop
12. Home Veg Tanzania Limited
13. MATI Uyole
14. Kapako Fish Farm
1.3.3. LGAs
The involvement with the LGAs start with selection of youth where first the district
council has to approve the project intervention, give directions to lower levels to support
the project, and then the village leaders are helping to select the youth at village level.
Later in the process, the Ward Community Development Officers are involved in the
registration of the groups, and in some districts, there are District Youth Development
60
Officers that help to access the 5% loan. Apparently, not all districts have such posts
filled.
1.3.4. FIs
Following options for access to funds for youth have been encountered: the application
to the 5 % loan of the district council (only received through SIDO), the application to
the presidential trust fund at regional level (not received), access to special loan fund of
SIDO, access to loans through the SAT Apex initiative. The banks that claim to have
opportunities for loans, such as FINCA, CDRB and Equity bank, have very high interest
rates and are not easy accessible for youth.
1.4. Conclusion:
Overall, the program in Tanzania has evolved enormously and is about to become a
program that has been crystalized into a project that is adapted to the local needs with
the available means. The implicated youth (that were met) show resilience in finding
opportunities to generate enough money for their basic needs and are able to reinvest in
small businesses. They are grateful and happy to have had the opportunity to participate
in OYE, because it has changed their lives. Most youngsters that were met have
understood the principle of using savings for generating money and are able to identify
new markets.
61
1.5
. Tim
elin
e o
f the
pro
ject in
Ta
nza
nia
since
MT
R (2
01
6-2
01
8)
Jan
July
Sept
Nov
March
May
Feb
April
June
Aug
Oct
Dec
Oct 2016
Nov
Dec
Jan
March
April 2018
Feb
MT
RE
nd
of
OY
E R
E
LSP
con
tracts
20
17
2
01
82
01
6
Learning event
MTR Arusha
Breakthrough in
data collection &
managementLast new intake of
OYE youth AG
Refresher
trainings OYE REDeliverable based 1
year contracts with LSPs
End of OMP;
regeneration of
private partnerships
RE&AG
End of Biogas
Implementation delays
LSP review, changes in
LSPsStaff change in RE
Start of LSP
“auditing” processcloser collaboration
SDC/MCF
LSP meeting REContracts with
existing LSPs RE
Staff Change AGLSP meeting AG
NO OYE 2nd phaseOverspending and
major budget
revisionsOYE PM AG left
Donor visit SDC, SIDA
Kenya, Harare in Dodoma Contracts with LSP AG
renewed
Donor visit SDC, SIDA
West Africa, Irish Aid in
Arusha M&E verification and
update( Nov-Jan)
Joint(MCF/SDC OYE
reflection meeting Budget revision review
End of program
evaluation
62
1.6. Who did what, when and how ?
Event Who (was involved) What exactly happened How was it done Observations
Learning event in Arusha
about MTR
All the OYE staff from
the 3 countries,
including SADC and MDF
Reflection with everyone on MTR
report and findings and improved
implementation addressing the
issues; e.g. gender, pull and
matching issues
Organized in Arusha marked
MTR, 3-year report and
planning for year 4
MTR was inspiring and forward
looking; much learning; directions
on change of implementation; had
work much on the draft: finding
evidence for statements
Breakthrough in data
collection and
management; individual
progress reports from
LSPs
OYE LSPs and advisors
(country teams working
together)
Follow up on youth “status” from
the point of intake
Restructuring database and
management of the
consultant;
Process from Datavision (2014) to
SMARTcodes, because
Datavision’s system was too
complicated, but Smartcode apps
did not work
Last youth intake for AG; LSPs and advisors and
LGAs
11 LSPs in AG contracted for intake
of 1800 new youth;
LSPs collected the data in all
key indicators at once
Refresher training of OYE
RE
LSPs and local
consultants (only
skills=PUSH) training
9 LSPs in RE provided with
refresher technical trainings and
coaching
Less focus on skills training
Deliverable based 1-year
contracts with LSPs
SNV OYE staff,
procurement and CD
Change of contract terms and
payment based on outputs
achieved instead of activities
conducted
Defining key outputs and
reporting against deliverables
and not expenditure
Deliverable is the trigger for
payment: more quality, less time
lost; hire 3 consultants on
financial management of LSPs
63
Event Who (was involved) What exactly happened How was it done Observations
End of OMP renegotiation
of private partners
RE&AG
OYE PMs and advisors OYE mentorship program did not
result in expected output in terms
of youth employed. Perceived as
“funding” private sector
companies. Change in partnership:
framework agreement.
Collaboration only where both
interest were served. No payments
to private sector
Review of RE …
Partnership. LSP (= OYE SNV)
assigned basic skills training
and coaching
End of Biogas No market perspectives in Biogas
Major verification
exercise, resulted in
implementation delays
(fraud) LSPs review and
change in LSPs
OYE PMs, SNV
management and
external auditors
(in Biogas) Misuse of funds, false
reporting, fraud resulted in
verification & due diligence of all
LSPs, activities and resulted in 3
months delays firing of 6 LSPs
Verification (phones and field
visits and audit)
Termination of contracts
Changed the perception of LSPs
affected the whole SNV approach
also for other projects; 3 months
delay; staff felt side-lined by
management; better contract
management
Staff change RE PM Kai left and Marloes became PM Recruitment of new PM
(Marloes)
according to proper procurement
process
Joint popular report
Collaboration SDC/MCF
closer
PMs & media consultant Joint planning for Bootcamp, joint
reporting, joint collaboration with
private sector
Logical step for joint planning at
this point, since SDC started in
2016; SDC needed to show its
contribution to the existing
project; go together to the field
discussions (monthly)
64
Event Who (was involved) What exactly happened How was it done Observations
LSP RE meeting OYE staff and LSPs
Contracts with existing
LSPs in RE
PM and advisors 9 LSP contracts RE extended and
deliverable based (March ‘18)
PM define activities and
budget for LSPs
Total amount 109,000 $ for
contracts, refresher training for
LSPs caused budget constraints
Staff change in AG PM and advisors Chacha takes over from Marloes OYE SDC staff assumed tasks
for outgoing MCF AG PM
LSP meeting AG Advisors, OYE staff and
LSPs
NO MCF funding for 2nd
phase
MCF MCF changed funding approach SNV tried to negotiate small
OYE phase 2 but was rejected
by MCF
SNV MD and board level were
involved considering whether to
have a smaller phase but MCF
decided not to
Overspending and major
budget revisions
PMs and finance officer Revolving contracts and severance
payments (bad contracting and
budgeting) led to overspending
Budget review and measures
to reduce expenditure
(reduced LSP contracts (per
contract) XX value of 20,000
in total
Some costs taken over by OYE
SDC
Overspending because of
Bootcamp, rolling contracts, MTR,
awards, etc. lacked detailed
budgeting; some AG contracts not
signed yet, which had to be
reduced
65
Event Who (was involved) What exactly happened How was it done Observations
OYE AG PM left PM Awadh left Tasks taken over by OYE SDC
Corjan and Rashid
Donors visit to Dodoma SNV OYE, MCF, SDC, CD
and donor
representatives
Interest from SDC Harare to fund
regional OYE project
Aggressive target new donors
at country level with SDC (co-
funding)
Contracts with LSPs AG
renewed
PM and advisors 9 deliverable-based contracts with
a focus on output/outcome results
targeting 51 YLEs and 1500 Youth
in employment for AG and 82 YLEs
for RE
Donor visits to Arusha SNV OYE and donor
representatives
Interest to implement program in
West Africa e.g. try to get Irish Aid
on board
3 days visit, sharing OYE
model with emphasis on
country specific contents
M&E verification and
update
LSPs and OYE
volunteers and M&E
volunteers
Individual youth progress
assessment uploading all info in
database
Joint MCF/SDC reflection
meeting
OYE SDC and MCF TZ
and LSPs
LSP reflection on implementation
issues and agreement to work
together across OYE sectors in
implementation;
Joint term planning and
implementation
Phone calls and report by
volunteers
Uploading youth data into the
database
Upgrading the database
LSP AG also assigned for LSP RE:
Performance issue were flagged:
action plan to improve till mid-
April; further guidance to LSP:
high priority for team
66
Event Who (was involved) What exactly happened How was it done Observations
Budget revision review PMs and FO Double taxation for international
staff
Reallocation for 108,000 $ to
staffing cost (international)
office costs and AG LSP
implementation
Hypotax was paid back by SNV
HQ; more into the AG contracts;
activities taken over by SDC
End of program
evaluation
67
1.7. Mapping of actors and results in year 5
1.7.1. Agriculture
Region/TA Agriculture (4822)
10 regions 10 LSP Subsector # of youth Employment PSOs FI
Rashid YLEs groups YLEs ind. Empl
Morogoro
Emmanuel
SAT Horticulture 840 21 89 - - CRDB
Poultry 7
Mbeya
Emmanuel
IECA Horticulture 431 15 270 15. Kapako
Fish farm
16. MATI
Uyole
5% govt loan fund,
CRDB
Dairy 152 4 132
Iringa
Emmanuel
Rice 244 9 198 60 Asasi Milk Co CRDB
Horticulture 30 1 30
Dairy 53 2 50
Tanga SEEDO Horticulture 430 9 385 -
68
Emmanuel Poultry 2
Rice 02
Kilimanjaro
Jessica
SIDO Kilimanjaro Food value
addition
14 groups 5 companies:
17. UJilulu
enterprise: on
nutritious flour
18. H&M: tomato
sauce
processing
19. 3 star and 1
power: rosella
whine
production
20. Jagef group:
rosella whine
production
21. Dorkia
enterprise:
peanut butter
Arusha TACADECO Maize farming (Meru Community
Bank)
69
Jessica Horticulture
15 groups
Value addition 210
Mwanza
Anthony
Core Synergy Horticulture 355 21 100 07 CHOBO Meat
company
Red meat 344
Poultry 180
Dodoma
Antony
SIDO Dodoma,
ECD
Leather ? Tanzania Meat
Company
Horticulture 916 27 120 94
Red meat 155
Rice 01
Dairy 07
Singida
Antony
SunSeed TZ Horticulture 420 13 92 00 TAISH
Poultry 120
70
Manyara
Anthony
SIDO Manyara
Shambani
Solution
Poultry 290 20 84 00
Horticulture 340
1.7.2. Renewable energy
Region/TA Renewable energy (3305)
13 Regions LSP Subsector # Y Employment PSOs FI
Marloes 9 LSPs and 1
solar consultant
TAREA)
YLEs
groups
YLEs ind. Employ.
Morogoro
Emma
MWAYODEO ICS 129 5 -
Solar 68 6 38 SunKing YSLA/LGA
Biogas 12 2 6 Solar Grid
? (Mobisol)
4 (Juabar)
Dar es Salaam &
Coast
GULUKA ICS 36 4
Solar 241 3 214 Mobisol
71
Emma Briquettes & ICS 25 1 20 ARTI Energy YSLA/LGA
Iringa
Emma
TAGRODE ICS 18 2 -
Solar 204 4 160 (SunKing) youth
to be linked
YSLA/LGA
Njombe
Emma
TAGRODE ICS 34 3 -
Solar 71 2 (SunKing) youth
to be linked
YSLA/LGA
Biogas 3 1 -
Sumbawanga
Emma
RUSUDESO ICS 78 5 SIDO Sumbawanga
Solar 136 1 116 YSLA/LGA
Kilimanjaro
Jessica
SIDO ICS 94 16 4 59 Last Mile
Solar 162 3 153 YSLA/LGA
Biogas 71 6
Arusha
Jessica
SIDO ICS 31 3 YSLA/LGA
solar 242 34 Mobisol (directly
with youth)
72
Biogas 67 5
Mwanza
Maria
Core Synergy ICS 106 5
Solar 336 5 261 104 Mobisol (directly) YSLA/LGA
Tanga
Jessica
4 H-Tanzania ICS 64 5
solar 92 4 22 Mobisol
biogas 32 2 (SunKing) youth
to be linked
Geita
Maria
Geodata ICS 38 5 YSLA/LGA
Solar 135 3 90 87 Mobisol (directly),
Kagera
Maria
Geodata ICS 66 4 1 0 YSLA/LGA
Solar 2 0 2 0
Shinyanga
Maria
ECD ICS 311 3 266 57 Zola, Solar sister
Solar 104 5 YSLA/LGA
235 3 190 104 GCS (Sunking),
Bliss
73
Annex 2: Findings Rwanda
2.1. General information since MTR:
2.1.1. Country Context:
The OYE project in Rwanda has been active in 22 districts in 4 provinces South North
East and West including Kigali City . The team was based in Kigali from where it
organized field trips on a regular basis. The team was constituted of one program
manager, three technical advisors in business development, M&E and Renewable Energy
expert and Junior Communication Consultant associate advisor is ensuring the
communication and sharing of the collected results to others
2.1.2. Sector and subsectors
In Rwanda the selected sector was renewable Energy (RE) with its 3 subsectors: Biogas,
ICS, Solar and some initiatives with briquettes also have been started.
Biogas
In the beginning, the program had benefitted much from the Biogas program (NBDP)
financed by DGIS that had been implemented in the 5 years before the project started.
After the installation of many digesters (also because that was one of the IMIHIGO
goals), districts are struggling with defective digesters since the NBDP stopped in 2013.
Therefore, the districts have shifted their targets from biogas digester installation to
maintenance of biogas digesters, which provides a market for the trained Biogas youth.
NDBP was not expanded because it failed in terms of numbers and maintenance, the
situation improved way after, with the government own funded initiative and the
decentralization process that was supported by US/OYE after 2014. It is from 2014 to
2017, that OYE had a substantial increase in terms of biogas digesters built, with the
contribution of the OYE youth led companies and cooperatives.
The biogas installation that was visited in Musanze provided gas for cooking as well
compost and fertilizer for organic agriculture. The condition for the biogas to succeed is
to have cows, preferably 2, and that requires food for the cows (zero grazing), which is
not easily available. 90% of digesters installed between 2014-2018 are plastic, well-
functioning with minimum maintenance needs. Only in Musanze and Burera, you find a
lower number of plastic digesters, because volcanic rocks make digesters cheaper.
Solar
There are different types of private companies that provide for the products, which are
of different power and strength.
74
MOBISOL provides systems that generate more energy, and which can support many
devices, which are also more expensive. Two types of jobs are to be filled: sellers and
technicians. The youth that works for MOBISOL has had more training (Maki academy)
and are taken care of in terms of possible career paths for those that perform well.
IGNITE provides for simpler and cheaper products, which are more accessible for poor
people. The youth is trained only one day at the time and earns a lower commission on
sales, though they sell more systems per month. They don’t have the opportunity to
integrate in the company.
There are arguments for supporting both types of companies: MOBISOL provides
training, higher commissions and a potential career path, while IGNITE provides cheaper
and therefore more popular devices that sell better and quicker allowing for a bigger
number of youth to enrol.
ICS
Next to the production of ICSs, which are not on big demand by individual households,
groups are producing alternative products, such as pots and roof tiles. They also do
singing and traditional dancing at events to earn income. The key elements for the ICS
are easy accessibility to the right clay as well as firewood for the Kiln, which constitutes
an obstacle in a natural resource constraint environment. The limited market is another
constraint mentioned by these cooperatives. One of the cooperatives, however, was
linked to the tender of many ICSs (IMIHIGO driven) by a district, via a private sector
company thanks to the intervention by the Vice Mayor.
2.2. Assessment for youth:
Relevance
The choice of topics and methodology used seem to be relevant and beneficial for the
youth. They feel empowered and are able to apply what was learned.
The selection of the youth was mainly done by the districts based on their assessed
position in the community in terms of poverty and access to opportunities as out of
school youth.
The team has observed that in case of the solar especially with MOBISOL, it was the
more “advanced” youth that were able to pass the selection test for the enrolment. This
higher benchmark allowed for more effective training (MOBISOL Maki: Academy), longer
term engagement and opportunities for growth within the company.
On the other hand, the team observed that the youth involved in ICS clearly came from
a more challenging background, even though one group was quite different from the
other in terms of young mothers, education and ages of the youth. Nevertheless, in both
cases, the ICS cooperatives had become their entry point for creating a livelihood.
75
From the evaluation from the IMIHIGO in the districts, it became clear that it is more
and more emphasizing the “youth entering employment” as outcome, as compared to
earlier periods which focused more on the “number of people trained”.
Effectiveness
Key for the success in Rwanda is the prolonged accompaniment of the youth in their
process to become independent. The BLS, business development and YSLA training
including the practice part followed by the coaching and mentoring have helped them to
grow, to understand the concept of saving and investing and use the options for self-
employment. The capacity and commitment of the involved LSPs was also key for the
success.
Most targets have been reached according to the figures related to the outcomes and
outputs provided to the evaluation team: 3,192 youth have entered employment and 74
new youth led enterprise have been set up (97% resp. 106% of targets). This was after
5 years, when the youth had gone through the employment opportunity creation
trajectory with OYE. In the beginning, 4266 youth had enrolled which constitutes 106 %
of the target and 4228 successfully completed training (124% of target).
The success of these achievements was triggered by a number of key factors, such as:
• The OYE team has invested much in the relationship and support to the LSPs, in
finding acceptable private sector partners and finding financial institutions to link
the youth to.
• YSLAs were the binding factor. The model that was developed for the YSLAs in
the context of OYE, includes many and clear safeguards between the members,
which allows to build trust. The YSLAs often had two components, namely one
providing for access to finance to start up income generating activities and within
the same group but separate, a system for providing a social safety net for its
members, which is crucial especially for youth with no other means of income.
Participation in the YSLA also provides for the step up to improved financial
management and proof to other institutions that these youth are able to manage
funds and are creditworthy.
• Regular consultation between OYE and LGAs, and PSPs and OYE/LSP with youth
• National and LGA support in terms of policies and subsidies and performance
contracts at district level regarding biogas functionality and electrification
• Certification of the cooperatives
• Understanding the subsectors
Efficiency
Rwanda has better divided activities between the PUSH-MATCH and PULL components
then the other two countries and therefore had a better-balanced expenditure picture of
49%, resp. 30% and 20%. Especially in year 4 it has much invested in the A4 (expand
76
employment for youth) component. From the beginning OYE Rwanda has been reaching
out to the private sector, searching for and engaged in matching opportunities, which is
shown in the expenditures. The unit cost per enrolled youth were lower for Rwanda than
for Tanzania Renewable Energy, namely 268 versus 349 US $. Also unit cost per youth
entering employment differs from 359 to 444 US $ and even more for continued
employment of 436 to 789 US $ between Rwanda and Tanzania Renewable energy.
Rwanda has changed its policies for travel expenses by switching from renting cars from
SNV to private companies, which was more cost effective for the project budget.
Impact
The OYE program in Rwanda has been successful in terms of the number of youth
(2,734) that have been strengthened to become entrepreneurs and/or to find
employment, either through self-employment (biogas) or through participation in
cooperative (mainly ICS and solar) or through formal employment (solar). There have
been 22 biogas cooperatives, 13 ICS cooperatives, 12 YLEs/Companies and 26 individual
enterprises established in the last 5 years. The youth indicated that they benefitted most
in terms of:
• Access to finance
• Having increased skills
• Working together and develop together
• Increased income
Young women claimed that:
• Their confidence is built
• Can participate equally in discussions with men
• Opened eyes on business ideas
• Able to access loan and knowing that she able to repay.
Sustainability
The certification of the cooperatives and the registration of the YSLAs has created
ownership and enhances sustainability of the groups. The majority of the youth met
have indicated their capacity to diversify their businesses on an individual basis, and to
generate money with the little money they had gained in the cooperatives or saved
through the YSLA.
Gender
After the MTR, OYE Rwanda has heavily invested in the mainstreaming of women in the
program, with considerable success: OYE Rwanda has increased the numbers of women
enrolment from 24% to 32%. According to the team women are occupying leadership
positions in youth led enterprises, especially cooperatives. Young ladies are involved with
new occupations along the distribution network and have shown special abilities with
77
marketing and bookkeeping. Young ladies have also shown increased confidence,
especially for technical occupations, form which most of them were not naturally
attracted to.
In order to make that happen OYE has lobbied in the youth-led cooperatives for
increased participation of young ladies. They also approached the private sector and
advocated for more gender inclusion and worked on building confidence of the young
ladies to keep them into renewable energy occupations. As a result, the women enrolled
and empowered by OYE Rwanda have increased their income for young women.
The cooperatives also have benefited from young ladies’ inputs in terms of better
management and leadership.
We monitor the individual success during coaching and mentorship, but also cross-check
with the income/Saving trends with private enterprises/cooperatives and YSLAs.
In fact, special focus on gender mainstreaming was needed from the very beginning of
the project. The team realized that a specific budget for gender mainstreaming was
needed, especially for very technical oriented sub-sectors.
2.3. Partners and stakeholders
2.3.1. LSPs
Figure 17. Set up of the collaboration with the different LSPs in Rwanda
The way the implementation of model that was applied, namely to engage with a limited
number of LSPs who are knowledgeable and committed, with specialized expertise
involved in specific tasks and not all the tasks during the whole process, depending on
• GLES: BLS, YSLA, Biogas and Solar
• RECONS: BLS, YSLA, Biogas and Solar
• IB&C: BLS, YSLA and ICS,
• INDIGO: YSLA, Financial services and
technical BDS
• G-Micro Consult: YSLA, Financial
services and technical BDS
78
the sectors, while some parts of the pathway were done by all, seems to work in this
context.
There are 5 LSPs for the whole country who have been divided between the North and
South and between specific tasks along the pathway.
2.3.2. PSPs
The private sector has mainly been involved with the solar energy subsector, namely
with:
• Mobisol
• IGNITE
• Zola, Waka Waka
• Nots
The private sector involved in the sector of biogas include Drimex, Private companies
registered under Rwanda Energy Group and at some extent the EPD as Energy Private
Developers as umbrella of private actors in the energy sector
2.3.3. LGAs
The government in general has been supportive of the whole program, at national as
well as district level. Districts welcome the project to work and invest in renewable
energy locally, especially if they have included renewable energy in their own IMIHIGO
goals. They have facilitated the selection of the youth (based on the social category in
which they were classified) as well as the certification of the cooperatives, and the
registration of the YSLAs.
At the same time, they are rather demanding in terms of reporting and accountability. In
Rwanda, there is strong control by Government on what NGOs are doing, not only in
terms of their own IMIHIGO goals but also in relation to the district IMIHIGO goals.
Initially, the plans and reports were monitored by the district immigration officer but
currently the RGB is the monitoring agency. As a consequence, this relationship with
local and central government has required quite some man power and investment.
When asked in which way the district will take over /continue OYE tasks, they replied
that they have learning centres where youth can be trained and where they will be
connected to the district officers of business development and employment department.
2.3.4. FIs
The relationship of OYE with the BDF, was a good formula for creating access to more
substantial funding for youth and women. However, the time was too short to upscale
79
and consolidate this initiative. Nevertheless, as BDF is working with 138 Financial
Institutions branches countrywide there is scope to introduce the formula country-wide
and impact the access of youth to finance in a more formal manner. It would be
interesting if SNV, perhaps through its other activities in the country could monitor the
progress of the youth lending program as an important tool for youth development.
2.4. Conclusion
The OYE Rwanda team has been able to build a solid program and able to apply the
model in its “purest” form. The program has been flexible and adaptive to a changing
context.
A substantial number of the involved youth clearly have become more resilient in
ensuring their livelihood.
The majority of youth encountered has understood the concept that even with little
savings they can start a small-scale business. In the beginning, it is good to keep it
small to avoid great risks and to be able to control, adjust and build up step by step.
That’s how resilience is being built.
The short-term cycles of YSLAs in Rwanda due to the quick return of investment in the
RE sector is favourable for the members to relatively quickly access funds. To be further
developed.
80
2.5
. Tim
elin
e o
f the
pro
ject in
Rw
an
da
since
MT
R (2
01
6-2
01
8)
Jan
July
Sept
Nov
March
May
Feb
April
June
Aug
Oct
Dec
Oct 2016
Nov
Dec
Jan
March
April 2018
Feb
MT
R
evaluation
20
17
2
01
82
01
6
BDF engagementArusha
meeting
OYE Youth in
Exhibition fairIntegration of
young girls
into
cooperativesAdditional Business
LCB (INDIGO) Up
scale
of B
DF
activitie
s
Upscale of Solar
activities (IGNITE)
Distribution of
YSLAs modules
Ethiopian
government
visit
MCF board
member visit
OYE youth exhibition
fait trade
Social media training for
OYE youth championsDRIMEX (biogas
employment)
Capacity building of
district officials in
biogas, quality
assessment promotion
maintenanceIWAWA youth MYICT
and district
cooperation
Growth of YSLAs
Recognition and
graduation of OYE in NEP
Exhibition fair OYE
participation
Linking OYE to ISUKU
IWACU
Business competition
New FO District level
exhibition fair
MCF board visit
ICS marketing with
districts
MCF staff &
partners visit
FO left
Communication &
ME intern
81
Annex 3: Findings Mozambique
3.1. General information since MTR (Oct 2016):
3.1.1. Country Context
Mozambique Has focussed on the agricultural sector in three provinces mainly in the
north of the country being Tete, Zambezia and Nampula, in the latter, especially along
the Nacala corridor. During the implementation period of the project, Mozambique
encountered an enormous economic crises that impacted the business environment and
the capabilities of the government to address the major economic policies on poverty
reduction and growth, hence also programs to promote youth employment and
employability. Policies specific for support of youth are in place, mainly under the
Ministry of youth and sports, including a financial component in the form of the FAIJ
program. Monitoring the programs is complex and recovery of loans by the FAIJ program
is lagging behind.
3.1.2. Sector and subsectors
As mentioned the focus was on the agricultural sector, which by default is a more
traditional sector as compared to renewable energy, which is more “sexy”. It requires
youth to engage for longer periods before benefits (varying from 35 days to 100 days)
are coming out of the interventions and requires funds upfront for investments, as
compared to e.g. solar. Access to funding is already a huge difficulty. Therefore the
interest of youth to engage in activities as groups and work on the fields together. The
subsectors where youth worked as a group seem to have been more sustainable as
compared to those activities where youth worked solitary like chicks breeding and pigs
raising.
Other subsectors were as well linked to economic activities (Fruit trees) or larger scale
donor initiatives (sweet potato), next to more traditional segments like cotton and
horticulture. The latter however is interesting as youth engaged in the sector look for
opportunities to cultivate year-round and produce when crops are in high demand and
prices beneficial (access to water and motor pump)
A last important intervention was the introduction of contract farming, mainly as in-
growers, partly as youth have limited access to land but mainly as the companies want
to reduce the side-sale of the produce. Middlemen approach the farmers shortly before
the harvest and offer better prices, while the farmer has received inputs from the
contracting partner in the agreement. This provides clarity from the start but requires all
sides of the equation to honour their engagement. In products, less easy to trade like
cotton, the problem of side-sale does not feature strongly and companies cooperate with
farmers based on an out-growers relation.
82
3.2. Assessment for youth:
Relevance
The program is highly relevant for the youth as youth opportunities are sparse. They
need often the extra input on how to identify opportunities and assess potential benefit
from these initiatives. Most of the youth engaged with during the field work indicated to
make use of the profits to invest in other activities; improvements of their direct living
conditions (as Nampula was hit by harsh rains) or starting new economic activities
(motorbike taxi, being a middleman and buy produce from other farmers, expand the
land etc. Access to land, finance and labour had remained an obstacle, working as a
group in an agricultural activity next to their normal activities is attractive. The burden is
shared and profits even shared among the group still an important contribution to their
living conditions
Effectiveness
The program has been effective in reaching out to youth and making “the numbers”.
Unit costs, compared to other countries, seem to be rather low, even with a quite
intensive program delivery channel in place. As observed before, monitoring has been a
challenge and lessons learned have to be incorporated in the future. Data collection
depended highly on LSP with oversight from advisors or interns. Uploading of data was
not easy as the matching with the original information could not always be made (we
noticed multiple uploads in the draft version due to technical issues. As with any data
analysis tool it is the quality that matters While figures for entering in employment after
training have been corrected downwards and are closer to the experiences in other
countries, the number of people continuing in employment is now at 83% after
correction.
Some youth made it to have their own business, like a hardware shop or restaurant.
Most likely many more examples exist but not all could be visited, and these are of-
course the great success stories. However, many youth do benefit in perhaps a more
modest way, which does not make the effect and impact less important.
Efficiency
Project delivery has been different from other countries with a high level of direct
contact engagements with the supervisors and the groups. This was justifiable due to
the lack of formal extension officers to take over this role. However, in most of the
activities visited and assessing the relationship between the Private Sector and the youth
one would have hoped to observe stronger commitment of the Private Sector in
providing technical support and knowhow to the youth especially in contract farming.
Nevertheless, according to the team the transfer of knowledge between the Private
Sector and the youth is taking place in other crops like the value chain around cotton,
horticulture in Corrane and the soya bean activities in Gurué. As these initiatives were
not visited, we are not able to determine the trigger for different private sector
approaches in knowledge transfer.
83
Impact
Impact can be measured as direct impact, as additional income due to the activity which
in most cases was obtained. OYE youth visited were happy and proud of their
achievements and indicated to have access to more (and/or more regular) income. They
are more open to look for alternative sources of income and prospect in some cases
direct links with retailers. One group was able with the money they earned to purchase a
motor pump (partly with local credit) to allow for year-round farming, something they
were never able to do before. Access to credit is and remains an issue, and sometimes
youth are not well informed or have limited understanding of the formal systems, hence
relying on local alternatives for credit without fact checking whether these loans are
more expensive than e.g. loans from institutes like GAPI.
A major concerns is flagged that relates to intervention focussing on life animals at a
larger scale, were the risks are higher (investment risks as well as operational risks) and
the youth engaged on an individual base. These activities, profitable as they may seem,
might have left some youth disappointed and with less money than before. On hindsight
it might have been wiser to engage in poultry raising with small groups as well to spread
the risks and the work involved. The team was informed that the company involved in
the activity has stopped all together with engaging outside individuals to raise chicks, as
prices became less competitive and the cost to keep the whole network operational too
expensive.
On the other hand, smaller initiatives with life animals like poultry keeping with small
groups and directly linking the youth to the market are more likely to succeed.
Sustainability
Most of the programs, if youth remain interested are there to stay. Youth expressed
interest in extending the area they are cultivating. Risks remain, especially in contract
farming if, for some reason, the parties do not honour the contract arrangements, like
not buying the produce. Youth have to learn to unpredictability of the market and learn
to cope with this, but the general feeling is that the field supervisors have sufficiently
engaged with them to cope with this and provide solutions.
The risks are however biggest with the more recent groups that have not had this
support like the women group in the hot pepper, being only created in January 2018.
The chances for them to stay around will depend very much on the company and the
support they might receive from them. This is however not a project design issue.
Gender
Gender inclusion can only be reached with more than special attention to the needs of
woman. The program has looked for opportunities that are attractive to women, like,
poultry, pig raising and certain crops that are more accessible then others (hot pepper)
and horticulture in general.
In many cases, when agricultural activities are tough, women find it less easy to keep
up, and we observed drop outs of women youth throughout the program in agricultural
84
activities. It is hoped that the women have benefitted from the training and are
engaging in other economic activities. Hence a thorough follow up on youth employment
is required. In numbers, Mozambique was able to reach a 36% female youth enrolment.
3.3. Partners and stakeholders
3.3.1. LSPs
Mozambique is different from the other two countries as the concept of small companies
as service providers is not easily available on the market, and initial try-outs with the
few existing companies did not yield the expected results. What can be found is
freelancers, but they often can only address a specific segment of the capacity demand
required for the program.
Furthermore, it was observed that the traditional extension system is limited in scope
and officers, few in numbers, over demanded.
In this context, the model was different from e.g. Rwanda where LSP worked with
groups on specific requirements and were specialist in that particular area.
LSP in Mozambique are mainly young technicians with an agricultural extension
background, who themselves were trained by other LSP like GAPI and INEP on specific
capacity development components and used this as a starting point for interactions with
youth on these topics. Furthermore, they engage very intensive and direct with all
groups on agricultural matters and extension questions.
Between 2016 and now, the program engaged with 11 field supervisors and two
contractors on agribusiness and skills development, and 16 trainers on Basic life skills
and business development, next to the SNV staff involved.
3.3.2. PSPs
Private sector companies can be divided in several categories
• Those being traders and have contract farming arrangements with OYE youth,
case of Amarula farms and hot pepper providing land preparation and seeds, but
not necessarily the know-how
• Those being involved actively in the sector and engage through contracts with the
OYE youth (Cotton, chicks) and heavy involvement in the development of the
relationship (provision of Know-how)
• Those involved in processing and promoting the cropping of certain products (no
contract farming, e.g. fruit trees)
Some other arrangements in place like in horticulture, where youth directly engage with
markets, no Direct PS engagement
Promotion of a nutritious crop (sweet potato) via an international Sub Sahara research
institute.
85
3.3.3. Provinces and Districts
The Government has played an active role in youth engagement as it is part of national
policies. At national level, many of the involved ministries do play a role in the steering
committee. On decentralised level, the provincial departments on Youth and sports and
the provincial labour agency are actively involved, the later for the recognition of the
curricula of training and the certification of trainers, and the Youth and sports
department in the discussions around the set-up of the program and providing access to
one specific area of funding (FAIJ).
At the district level, the youth councils do play a role in both the youth identification,
the registration of the youth groups and often provide a helping hand in providing access
to land and/or opening the channel to the youth funds for the registered groups.
3.3.4. FIs
A second funding line, more in tune with the experience in Rwanda (BDF) is the
collaboration with GAPI, a former collaboration between an NGO and the state,
nowadays operating as a security bank and promoting financial inclusion. Gapi
encountered challenges in their drive to expand its program. Therefore the collaboration
with SNV was for them as well helpful in expanding loans to youth. Interest rates are
relatively low 18% as compared to commercial banks, who charge up to 44%. Loans
amount are relatively small to medium size, and once paid-back a second loan
application can involve a higher level of loans.
Furthermore, youth in the agricultural sector depend still on other forms of credit and
more traditional operating in the sector like, contract farming (supply of inputs) or direct
loans with agri-providers to be paid back at harvest.
3.4. Conclusions
All in all, the program is interesting and much has been achieved. We acknowledge that
we have seen only a few examples of all the work done. The team has been open on
successes and challenges and not all groups visited were at the level one would have
hoped.
It is however also fair to state that the program has only “just started” and would have
benefitted from a continued support.
Based on the field visits and the discussions with staff and partners the following issues
were further discussed in the final session.
By no means this report will be integral copied in the final report, though serves for us
as evaluators to take stock of the many impressions.
86
Relationship with Novos Horizontos
As it stands out, and by no means is representative for all the work done by the OYE
team and the youth, semi-commercial chick raising is profitable but at the same time
risky. Profits are ranging from zero to 35,000 meticais per 35 days is huge for youth who
were having very limited chances. However, risks were as well fairly high with first of all
high investment costs for the youth: Building their own chicks house, buying the water
and food dispensers was a huge investment of anything between 25,000 and 35,000
meticais or equal to 4 to 5 rounds of raising chicks. It requires commitment and
endurance to work with life animals and a strong discipline of each individual. Most youth
were able to recover the initial investments but the activity came to a halt, either as
youth were not able to keep to the agreement and at a later stage as the company,
entered in difficulties to honour their contractual engagement due to the economic
crises. As mentioned before the company has stopped working with outsourcing chicks
raising, as the cost became too high with the reduced profit margins.
SNV and Novos Horizontos trained 72 youth in BLS and poultry keeping, of which 25
constructed their chicks house in year one. By January 2018, 11 youth dropped and 14
remained. Nevertheless the training will have benefitted these youth, though not all
youth engaged had found means to enter in new economic activities. Time will learn
whether they are capable of diversifying their income based on the skills learned.
Others, however, are engaged in horticulture or local business activities.
Relationship with Amarula Farms
The risk in this case is much lower. Amarula Farms is next to be a trader also a
horticulture company, providing vegetables to Nampula markets and retailers. At the
moment, they are not involved in sesame production themselves due to an unfortunate
family related event. As they were not using the land temporarily, SNV suggested to
involve more in-growers to add value to the land and at the moment they are
providing inputs to youth (Land, seeds and labour). Being an in-growers scheme as
compared to an out-growers scheme, where the parent company has as well an
important production share, the risks are in this case much more at the level of the in-
growers, as Amarula is currently not involved in agricultural production. Anticipation of
diseases and their treatment could lead to substantial loss if not adequately addressed.
The choice of crops is directed by Amarula, in the case of mung beans and sesame, as a
trader, who is selling its produce from the in-growers, plus the produce he buys as a
middleman, to wholesalers in Nampula.
Amarula opted for providing the inputs, and OYE in most situations visited, was
responsible for the technical agricultural training. Therefore, OYE hired field staff,
referred to as LSP, who did receive training on BLS and business skills, and who are
fundamentally agricultural extension workers. This is understandable in a situation where
the extension services of the Min of Agriculture are very limited as was as well observed
by various partners???.
87
The group leader was smartly engaged by Amarula Farms to train the in-growers in a
constant manner. It is only fair to mention that Amarula Farms had a major setback with
a deadly robbery which forced management to temporarily return to India and leave the
management with the company administrator.
A second initiative (not visited) with/of Amarula is a 10 million USD loan they have
received from the World Bank to develop 10 ha of horticulture which in collaboration with
OYE provides opportunities to 150 youth. Greenhouses of 1 ha will be constructed with
access to water year-round.
This indicates that Amarula is planning to stay and could become an interesting youth
“investor”
Other issues raised
• The idea of grouping youth according to being either innovators - consolidators –
followers could be interesting in improving leadership and finding the right
balance for groups.
• Working through group leaders / animators (a dedicated member of a group,
having received additional training and responsible for 2 groups at the same
time) seems to work with 10 people per group. Some few animators left their
position, but most are still in place. Animators are very instrumental to keep the
momentum going and, in some cases, they managed to interest their fellow
youth to diversify the groups activity (engage as well in YSLA, horticulture etc)
• OYE field supervisors, the LSPs, were practically full time hired and did also have
the feeling to be “employee” of SNV. Some of them were geographically too much
stretched and limiting one field supervisor, LSPs, to one district would likely make
sense if the number of youth groups was sufficient.
• Although this is arguable in a situation with a limited functioning extension
service, SNV/OYE took this role perhaps too serious, while it could have been part
of the deal with the various partners, SNV/OYE could have still opted for investing
in the training and the internships, which is more characteristic for its modus
operandum.
• Growing too wide and addressing too many districts is as well an additional
burden and results in extra costs and time resources. Sometimes the choice was
the direct result of the Private sector partners’ field of operation, hence the need
for SNV to engage with the youth in these districts. Market opportunities were
limited and therefore, SNV had little room to manoeuvre. Lessons learned can
perhaps help in future engagements to make judged decisions to balance the use
of resources.
• The fact that the steering committee was in place was of great help and allowed
for governance ownership. However, looking at the membership of the steering
committee, it reveals a strong representation of the government:
88
o Ministry of labour (INEP)
o Ministry of agriculture
o Ministry of youth
o Ministry of industry and commerce
o National youth council
o SNV (secretariat)
o CTA (confederation of business associations)
While CTA is a confederation representing the business community and is as well
an advocacy entity on behalf of the private sector, it is as such not the private
sector. To widen the interest, it could be useful to, as discussed with the team, in
the future as well integrate GAPI in the steering committee and perhaps one of
the PS collaborators.
The steering committee provided opportunities to link youth to business
opportunities (INEP). INEP is as well important to certify the training curriculum
and the trainers (otherwise they are considered illegal)
The goal of the steering committee is as well to empower private sector in
Mozambique to better play its role and increase its contribution in the country’s
development process
The national conference on OYE youth was an important step and the support of
the steering committee very important. It contributed to the understanding of the
need for registration of groups.
• As discussed above, the database is an issue that should be better addressed in
future activities, in providing added value in the analysis of the collected data.
The outline of the database and the team working on it lacked a larger vision on
how to make it work without too much difficulties. A unique ID per youth is
essential, and perhaps the program could have considered a credit-card type of
ID card, which identifies each youth. This would have made registration easier
and follow-up visits for updating the database less prawn to errors. In the end it
is about the additional income of youth and less about the sectors, information
that could have been gathered anyway.
The sheer number of possible errors, the use of the Portuguese name writing are
all factors influencing the quality. All the issues can be backtracked in the final
stages but made the tool hard to use, if at all in Mozambique. It is likely that the
excel sheets are providing similar info, but also here, data errors will make it hard
to explore the information. LSP have made their own tools to be able to produce
reports but this comes with extra costs and requires much more time, to clean
and make useful contributions to reporting.
89
If successful, the database would have been a powerful tool to follow the youth
throughout the years.
• The registration process of youth groups is complicated as it requires youth to
have an ID card, registration of the land (as well a difficult process), and having
in place a constitution, the latter process is in the SNV/LSP sphere of influence.
• SNV Mozambique introduced fieldworkers, very much involved in the day-to-day
process of the youth groups and focused on the agricultural aspects of the
various activities. As mentioned this made sense in an environment where formal
extension officers are too few and too much burdened already. They are referred
to as “LSP” as they provide as well BLS and other training to youth groups. The
turn-over within this groups/amongst LSPs? has been high with some groups
now having the fourth field worker.
The environment of “LSP” is not easy accessible and most of these potential LSP
are freelancers, not having a larger structure behind them for quality assurance?
Hence SNV was very much depending on “government representatives to provide
the initial training, an effect even more articulated as the content and trainers
had to be certified by the INEP. At a later stage, training was provided by trainers
from government, private training institutes and civil society.
Trainers that the consultant did meet during the field visits came from the INEP
office. A representative of the employment department, from the ministry of
agriculture at district level - Ilha de Mozambique was involved in BLS and
business skills training and GAPI, addressed financial inclusion and basic financial
management.
Fieldworkers were all trained as trainers of trainees by these various entities.
The introduction of group leaders seemed to have worked very nicely, with each
group leader being involved with two groups.
• The relationship with the PS partners looks good and promising and there is
frequent interaction between SNV and the PS partners. There could however,
have been a stronger focus on sharpening the collaboration and look for more
advanced opportunities, like in the case of CIP, promoting youth in the role of
seed multipliers, or in the case of Novos horizontes be more alert on the
problems that occurred and discuss ways to mitigate. This applies as well for the
pig raising and likely to all work with live animals as the risks are considerably
higher.
Some of the collaborations on the other hand are quite recent (2017 onwards)
and thus the collaboration needs a more robust track record to bring the
collaboration to the next level. SNV has played and needs to play the catalyzer
role in such programs.
90
• As OYE is to stop, the most sensible thing is to link youth to government entities,
however, will they play this catalyzer role and forge partnerships with PS actors,
or just train youth as is the case in many youth programs?
• It remains important for sustainability that youth have access to finance, be it in
formal loans (GAPI and to some extent FAIJ) or through YSLA which they can
control themselves. During the field visit the consultant did not come across
many YSLA, and also their functioning has not been discussed in detail.
Remarkable however was, the fact that a large percentage of the loans are used
to solve social issues, and not to invest in new opportunities, which was due to
several disasters that struck the area and the economic crises that hit the
country. While understandable, a difference was noted with the other two
countries. A risk exists that this could impact the growth of these schemes as
capital loaned will not create new capital.
The contract farming (horticulture, sesame and mung beans) and in the cotton sector
(not visited) seem to work, with some challenges identified, especially if the company
cannot honour its engagements. Issues identified that related to these challenges are
the occurrences of diseases in e.g. the sesame which was not adequately addressed or
the dependency of the women in the hot pepper activity where the ploughing and land
preparation was not a major concern for the company, while the seedlings had over-
stayed at the nurseries.
Engaging with research entities like IITA (not visited) is of course important and there
added value especially in the seed production. Negotiating with IITA to identify other
opportunities remains important as e.g. IITA is a leading entity in the cotton research
(while SNV is not working with IITA on cotton). Furthermore, IITA has since 2011
established the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) to get more youths into agriculture.
91
3.5. Timeline of the project in Mozambique since MTR (2016-2018)
Month Activities OYE staff Activities OYE staff Activities “LSP”
October 2016 Marketing training and market
opportunities identification
Annual meeting (Arusha)
Engagement of communication
consultant
Basic life skills training
Intake of youth in internships
New interventions
November 2016 Monitoring and support visit by OYE
program manager
MoU with MFI GAPI
Steering committee meeting
(Maputo)
Employment fair in Nacala port
December 2016 Engagement of youth with private sector
e.g. Amarula
Technical training land preparation
Peer to peer session in Ribaue
BLS training in Namialo
Basic life skills training
Negotiations for engagement for
development of formal job creation
MoU
January 2017 BLS training
MoU with SANAM (cotton)
Establishment of demo plots
Deployment of interns in companies
Animator training (basic and ICT
skills training mobile phones)
Engagement of four new
trainers
Increase of the number of
women engagement as a result
of the MTE report
Exchange of experience
Training on professional
development
Field day
92
February 2017 Technical training of youth (pest control,
thinning etc)
Identification of YSLA groups
Start of BST with GAPI
MoU with HoyoHoyo (soYa
beans)
Technical assistance to youth
regarding activity planning
March 2017 BLS training continues
MoU with CEID UBS &IITA
Monitoring Visit of steering
committee members
Monitoring Visit of program
manager
Review of procurement
procedures
Selecting youth for horticulture,
saving schemes, internships and
coaching /mentoring
New initiatives coverage by FAIJ
(development fund to support youth
initiatives
April 2017 Orientation of youth on market
opportunities
GAPI training BST
Field day in Monapa
May 2017 Visit by minister of youth and sports
Visit by administrators Lalaua meconta
Consultant for YSLA engaged
Start of training on YSLA
June 2017 YSLA training
Resumed BLS training (after a break
period
Visit by provincial governor of
Nampula Lalaua district
July 2017 Two new LSP engaged
Career guidance training participated by
INEP
Needs assessment with IIAT
(Zambezi and Tete)
Two LSP left OYE
93
Two MoU for CIP and Quinta
Mutava Rex, OYE and DPCTEST
August 2017 BLS
YSLA in progress
Visit of INEP for youth employment
Horticulture market linkage
Communication consultant
leaves OYE
1 LSP resigns
GAPI finances first youth
initiative
Selection of four youth groups to
produce improved and certified
seeds
Support in field preparation,
selection of crops for seed
production
Identification of 5 ha of land for seed
production
September 2017 LSP training ToT by Gapi Till now 1585 youth engaged Training on professional
development
Exchange of experiences
Planning for commercialisation
Support in the process of trading the
produce
October 2017 Business and entrepreneurship training
starts
Business plans approved and financed by
GAPI
Training of youth engaged with
IITA in Zambezi and Tete
YSLA consultant contract ends
Evaluation and writing annual
reports
94
Youth led enterprises AimL
solutions participates in
international competition
November 2017 Participation in the fifth conference of
entrepreneurship in Maputo
Training on financial literacy
Linking youth with financial
institutions (banks)
Process of recruiting 3 “LSP”
Reception of proposals
Field activities: presenting LSP to
colleagues and partners and
allocation of districts
December 2017 Technical training
Business skills training
Coaching of youth by partners (companies)
Visit by programme manager Youth identification
Start of LSP in designated areas
Participative planning exercise
Meeting with company Mantharia
emprentimantos
Training on businesses skills
January 2018 Business skills training continued
Establishment of fields for seed production
Technical training of youth in
new interventions (piripiri)
Basic life skills training
Exchange program
Training in poultry keeping
Visit of regional manager
95
February 2018 Technical skills training
Two youth financed by GAPI received new
loans after repayment of the first one
Business skills training
Career guidance by INEP
Technical assistance
Partner exchange and field visit to
production areas, poultry keeping
and pig raising
Visit of manager
Business skills training
March 2018 Horticulture planning Planning of horticulture crops
Planning of commercialisation
Technical assistance
Meeting with partners
Monthly meeting
Trimester report
April 2018
Final evaluation
96
3.6. Mapping of LSPs in year 5
10 regions LSP Period of
involvement
Field Supervisor in Tete Ventura Ngoveni 2015
Field Supervisor Marcos Camphambe 2016 -2018
Field Supervisor Albertino Trinta 2016-2017
Field Supervisor Jaime Alvaro 2016
Field Supervisor Detino Germano 2016-2017
Field Supervisor Eurico Kauaua 2016-2017
Field Supervisor Alfeu Sulaha 2017-2018
Field Supervisor Franco Julio 2017-2018
Field Supervisor Jordina Amado 2016-2018
Agri-business Assistant Mariamo Bai Tarmamade 2016-2018
Field Supervisor Derson Momade Aly 2017-2018
Field Supervisor Merson Muatiua 2017-2018
Agribusiness Assistant Suniza Carimo 2016
Agribusiness & Skills
Development Assistant
Wilson Uaniheque 2016-2017
97
BLS and Business development trainers
OYE Trainer Mariamo Jamal (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Miguel Valente (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Tome Alberto (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Renaldo Jaquite Salvado Colaco (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Sifa Agostinho (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Felizarda da Conceicao Alves Teixeira (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Wilson Francisco Uaniheque (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Victoria Chucuacha Figueiredo Chaiuane Bacela
(Nampula)
OYE Trainer Jumito Muiane Juma (Nampula)
OYE Trainer Diogo Francisco Bores (Zambezia)
OYE Trainer Rita Lucas (Zambezia)
OYE Trainer Helio Chelengo (Tete)
OYE Trainer Manuel Viegas Luis (Tete)
OYE Trainer Estevao Saide (Zambezia)
OYE Trainer Alexandre Muianga (Zambezia)
OYE Trainer Mariamo Camilo (Nampula)
98
3.7. Youth involved per subsector and results per province
3.7.1. Tete Province – Magoe, Moatize & Tsangano
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Horticulture 99 85 184
2 Sesame 17 11 28
3 Cotton 22 13 35
4 Chicken 5 5 10
5 Potatoes 48 38 86
6 Maize 43 36 79
7 Soya beans (Seed
production)
15 5 20
8 Beans (Seed production) 11 9 20
9 Sweet potatoes 31 27 58
Total 291 229 520
Tete total 520 active out of 571 trained youth (51 dropouts)
We know of youth who fled to Malawi in 2015 & 2016 when there was some
political instability in the country. Others left to Tete city and other
provinces.
3.7.2. Zambezia Province: Gurue 168 youth and Alto Molocue 158
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Soya beans 37 28 65
2 Horticulture 61 55 116
3 Maize 16 12 28
4 Beans 28 21 49
5 Ground nuts 29 25 54
6 Maize 43 36 79
7 Soya beans (Seed
production)
10 10 20
8 Sweet potatoes 12 8 20
9 Fruit trees 15 15 30
99
Total 251 131 382
Zambezia –Total of active youth 382 out of 467 trained
3.7.3. Nampula Province: Alfeu Ribaue & Malema
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Chickens 4 3 7
2 Piripiri 10 0 10
3 Agodao 225 164 389
4 Tabaco 6 6 12
5 Comercializacao 7 3 10
6 Fruit trees 14 9 23
7 Criacao de Patos
5 5
8 Criacao de coelhos 1 1 2
9 Pigs 3 2 5
Total 291 229 520
3.7.4. Lalaua District Merson
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Fruitrees 7 2 9
2 Algodao 46 12 58
3 Pigs 1
1
4 Horticultura 20 9 29
5 Comercializacao 55 25 80
Total 129 48 177
100
3.7.5. Derson Momade Monapo district, Ilha de Mocambique and Nacala Velha
3.7.6. Intervention in Caia – Sofala
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Sesame production 104 36 140
Total 104 36 140
The MCF-OYE project moved out of Sofala province due to high logistical costs
caused by long distance from Nampula or Tete. The I40 youth trained in Caia
were then handed over to another SNV OYE project funded by the EU that
included Sofala as one of their areas of intervention
3.7.7. Youth under internships graduates from Agricultural Institutions
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Internship of school leavers 413 279 692
Total 413 279 692
Total number of youth
actively accompanied in
various sub sectors
3900
140 youth in Sofala were handed over to OYE-EU
About 960 youths can be considered as dropouts.
No Intervention/Value chain Men Women Total
1 Fruit trees 19 15 34
2 Sweet Potato 28 38 66
3 Horticulture 45 41 86
4 Sesame 51 30 81
5 Chicken 48 32 80
6 Cashew 43 17 60
7 Pigs 6 4 10
8 Sesame 22 9 31
9 Ground nuts &Sesame 77 41 118
Total 339 227 566
566 active youths out of 715 engaged
101
3.7.8. Financial savings and loans
No Intervention/Value
chain
Men Women Total
1 YSLA Tete 195 148 343
2 YSLA Zambezia 140 166 306
3 YSLA Nampula 106 135 241
Total 441 449 890
All groups started from 2016 onwards and are still active (53 groups)
Loan amount
outstanding
US$8784.00
Total savings
US$37751.00
FAIJ loans
1 FAIJ Tete 26 youth in 4 groups Mts 53500 US$900.00
2 FAIJ Nampula 11 youth paid back
almost half the amount
Mts 159000 US$2700.00
3.7.9. Youth-led enterprises
No Intervention/Value chain # Activity
1 Youth-led enterprise
Tete
7 Horticulture
Youth-led enterprise
Zambezia 15 Solar and horticulture
Youth-led enterprise
Nampula
16 Village shops
81 Contract farming with AMARULA FARMS
40 Contract farming with JFS
17 Pig raising
5 Horticulture in Ribaue
10 Women in chili
Total Nampula 169
102
Definition of youth-led enterprise: They started or improved their activity into
a business in a specific intervention or value chain. They are doing a viable
business and in some cases do diversify their activities especially when the
agricultural season has passed. They have a minimum of 2 employees whom they
pay monthly or seasonally) We adopted this concept because it is very difficult for
rural youth to formally register an enterprise as such due to tough bureaucratic
procedures and processes
In total the team considers 244 YLE and thinks according to their definition that
this is a conservative figure still.
103
Annex 4: Methodology of the evaluation.
4.1. Evaluation launch meeting
The starting point of the assignment was an “evaluation launch meeting” between SNV,
Mastercard Foundation and the consultants. This virtual meeting was conducted from the
eMJee office in Tanzania with the consultant and SNV program manager and three
representatives of MasterCard in Canada on the 22nd of February. The main purpose was
to further clarify expectations of the three parties regarding the end products of the
assignment, agree on scope and limits of the Terms of References (ToR). It was
established that the key objective of the final evaluation was to zoom in on the impact
and sustainability of the program at this stage and how well gender issues had been
addressed. Secondly, it was agreed that less focus would be on the model itself, but
more on what has been improved regarding performance while addressing the
recommendations that were made during the Mid Term Review (MTR) in October 2016.
OYE SNV provided an extensive list of relevant documents to study as well as the actual
documents, shortly after contract signing.
4.2. Desk study of documents of the program in the three countries.
The consultants have developed an assessment framework before starting the desk
study to make sure to cover all aspects of the evaluation requirements (see annex 2 for
the list of documents and assessment frame work). The key document to be studied was
the MTR report. Also, the team studied the project proposal, the annual plans of each
country (since 2016), training material, the M&E database, and some of the country and
consolidated progress reports, as well as some back-to-office reports. There are still
many documents to study along the way.
Based on the information, topics for further explanation were identified and integrated
into the two action learning sessions that were organized with the OYE TZ team. This
helped to focus further, to plan for and prepare the checklists for the field visits.
4.3. Preparation of methodology and inception report
Since the MTR was indeed comprehensive, the team mainly focused on verifying the
produced results in the last 14 months as well as the changes generated by the
implementation of the recommendations of the MTR.
Two work sessions with the OYE team in Dar at the office and two short virtual meetings
with the SNV OYE project managers of Mozambique and Rwanda clarified details per
country and possible options for the location of the field visits. In this period, the team
prepared the agenda’s and programs for work sessions during the field visits with the
project staff (SNV and LSPs) and other potential resources persons in the three
countries.
104
The inception report described the proposed program and methodologies in detail for the
whole assignment. The report proposed the localities to visit based on the meetings with
the staff and the (type of) respondents to meet. It also proposed the format and size of
the end product. All parties (SNV and Mastercard Foundation) agreed on the
methodologies, the specific respondents per country, the location of the field visits and
the final timeline, including the table of content for the end report. The draft inception
report was adjusted according to the feedback and comments from the program and
project managers. As a result, the order of the field visits to the countries was shuffled
in time, namely first to Rwanda and the field visit in Tanzania was split in two, namely 4
days to Morogoro and 3 days to Moshi and Arusha.
4.4. Field visits
The team started the field visits with a joint trip to Rwanda to align methodologies and
gain most from both competencies in the beginning of April. The field visits to
Mozambique and Rwanda was done by one consultant each and had a similar framework
as per table 1. However, the final program for each country was adapted and flexibly
implemented according to country needs and context. The focus was on meeting with
the different types of beneficiaries, while at least one of the category of partners was
met. (e.g. LGA, PSP, or FI). (see annex 5 for the itinerary and the people met).
The field visit in Rwanda and Mozambique took 5 days, starting with a meeting with
project management and staff to explain and align the agenda as well as the mutual
expectations.
An action learning session on the first day with the project staff followed by a session
with relevant Local Service Providers (LSPs) helped to get a clearer picture/confirmation
of the overall successes, challenges and lessons learned since the MTR, focusing on
impact and sustainability of the program in the future. Special attention was given to the
accessibility and successes of the program for young women.
The session with the LSPs focused on the relationship with SNV OYE on one hand and
the youth, Private Sector Partners (PSPs) and the Local Government Authorities on the
other hand.
The second and third day were used for visiting the work places of youth, farms, homes,
companies, meeting the different types of beneficiaries: self-employed youth, YLEs
group members, trained and employed women, wage employees, interns, drop-outs
from the program, young out-growers, and other beneficiaries. The fourth day and the
morning of the fifth day were used for meeting private sector partners, the
LGAs/government officials, financial institutions and any other relevant stakeholders (see
inception report for possible key questions during these visits). The last day was used for
meeting those respondents planned for day four that were not reachable as well as
collecting documents and conduct relevant face-to-face meetings (M&E system and
database). This day also included a last session with the country OYE team and the LSPs
presenting the rough first findings for their validation and to jointly address impact,
sustainability and gender mainstreaming (see annexes 1 to 3 for country findings).
105
In Rwanda, the team has mostly worked from Kigali though there was one night over in
Rubavu District for one of the field visit teams. The evaluation started with a workshop
of half a day with the project team, followed by a session with the LSPs and the team
together. Then the consultants were divided into two teams seeing different groups and
partners. In Mozambique the focus was on Nampula Province.
In Tanzania, the consultant went to the three regions, namely Morogoro, Kilimanjaro and
Arusha in two separate trips. The Tanzanian field program was slightly different because
the interaction with the country team had taken place in Dar es Salaam.
4.5. Processing and analysis of the findings (April-May)
Upon return from the field, the consultants will write field reports as work documents,
with their observations regarding the additional results, process the combined
information of desk study and field trips into relevant tables and figures, comparing the
findings of the three countries, and drawing conclusions. In this period, is it foreseen to
meet up with the different country teams again (either physically or virtually) to further
articulate the findings.
4.6. Report writing and sharing of findings (May/June)
A draft report will be shared for comments end of May. In Tanzania, it will be presented
during a staff meeting. Comments and feedback from the staff of the three countries will
be processed into the final report. Given the fact that no in-depth data collection is
foreseen, the consultants will make use of testimonials and stories provided by the
various players consulted.
4.7. Key questions in the field:
With OYE teams:
• What happened in time?
• Who did what?
• What went well? Evidence? Relevance?
• What did not go well? Why was that a problem? How did you address it?
• Why? Critical factors? What triggered it? What/who was key?
• Difference/change after MTR
• Gender mainstreaming
• Lessons learned
With Youth/beneficiaries:
• Group details
• Members characteristics
106
• YSLAs and group activities
• Benefits and individual activities
• What and who was most crucial for their progress
• What is the biggest impact for them?
• What was the biggest challenge?
• What will happen now that the project stops?
• What to do differently next time?
With LSPs
o Getting to know the LSPs, their characteristics and their involvement
o Assessment of the Relationship with SNV
o Assessment of their role and capacity
o Assessment of how they engaged with the youth
o Assessment of how they engaged with LGAs, PSO and FIs
o Successes and challenges
o Lessons learned
107
Annex 5: Evaluation Matrix: assessed against current impact
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
1. Relevance: The extent to which the project is suited to the priorities and needs/ambitions of the youth in
the given countries.
1.1 To which extent does
the OYE project address
the needs, ambitions and
interests of the targeted
youth?
How well is OYE
addressing the
needs/ambitions of
particularly vulnerable
youth, such as women
and those in rural areas?
Good
In 4 sectors beneficiary needs analysis have been conducted and
used with specific attention for and data on vulnerable youth
(women in rural areas). OYE fully targets rural-out-of-school youth.
OYE shows strong flexibility in adapting resources to respond to
changing needs and ambitions.
FGD with
youth
Desk study:
Project
proposal and
annual
plans/reports
M&E data
Interviews
with SNV
staff and LSP
Satisfactory
In 2 sectors beneficiary needs analysis have been conducted and
used with some attention for and/or data on vulnerable youth
(women in rural areas). OYE largely targets rural-out-of school
youth. OYE shows flexibility in adapting resources to respond to
changing needs and ambitions but takes time in doing so.
Moderate
<4 sectors beneficiary needs analysis have been conducted and
used with limited attention for and data on vulnerable youth
(women in rural areas). OYE partly targets rural-out-of school
youth. OYE is rigid in adapting resources to respond to changing
needs and ambitions
108
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
Poor
<4 sectors beneficiary needs analysis have not been systematically
done/used with no or limited attention for and/or data on
vulnerable youth (women in rural areas). OYE hardly targets rural-
out-of school youth. OYE is rigid in adapting resources to respond
to changing needs
1.2 To what extent are
the opportunities
identified by OYE
inclusive in terms of
serving youth interests as
well as enhancing their
empowerment i.e. ability
to access and diversify
their economic
opportunities?
Good
OYE applies an open and flexible concept of employment, incl. self-
employment and attention for informal economy opportunities,
steered by the youth their personal interest (“meaningful
employment”). Economic empowerment (income/assets) is
combined with broader benefits on life/livelihood and this is clearly
measured/ monitored. OYE adequately takes into account and
addresses risks of exploitation and promotes decent work towards
employers/ youth-led enterprises.
FGD with
youth
Desk study:
Project
proposal and
annual
plans/reports
M&E data
Interviews
with SNV
staff and LSP
Satisfactory
OYE applies an open and flexible concept of employment, incl. self-
employment and attention for informal economy opportunities,
steered by the youth their personal but also non-personal /other
interests (“meaningful employment”). Economic empowerment
(income/assets) is combined with broader benefits on life/livelihood
although a clear measurement of success can be improved. OYE
takes into account risks of exploitation and promotes decent work
towards employers/ youth-led enterprises although could do more
to tackle this.
109
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
Moderate
OYE applies a narrow concept of employment, incl. self-
employment, and has limited attention for informal economy
opportunities. Employment is steered by the youth their personal
but also non-personal/other interests (“meaningful employment”).
The concept of economic empowerment (income/assets) is
combined with broader benefits on life/livelihood although this is
not measured. OYE notices the risks of exploitation and promotes
decent work towards employers/ youth-led enterprises although is
hardly addressing this.
Poor
OYE applies a rigid concept of employment, incl. self-employment,
and has unsystematic attention for informal economy opportunities.
Employment is mainly steered by non-personal/other interests
(“meaningful employment”). The concept of economic
empowerment (income/assets) is narrow and does not measure
livelihood improvements. OYE notices the risks of exploitation and
promotes decent work in theory but is not addressing this.
1.3 To which extent have
the right stakeholders
been identified and
involved – such as
national and local
government, ministries;
Good
A systematic stakeholder mapping and analysis is conducted in all
countries and regions of OYE. Systematic management responses
(process of selection followed, clear criteria set, contracts with
partners signed) towards different stakeholder groups have led
(>80%) to the involvement of suitable companies, LSPs,
government authorities/institutions and broader partners.
Desk study:
Project
proposal and
annual
plans/reports
110
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
youth trainers and
coaches, private sector
companies?
Satisfactory
Stakeholder mapping and analysis is conducted in all countries and
regions of OYE. Management responses (process of selection
followed, clear criteria set, contracts with partners signed) towards
different stakeholder groups could be strengthened/ systematic but
have largely (>70%) led to the involvement of suitable companies,
LSPs, government authorities/institutions and broader partners.
M&E data
Interviews
with SNV
staff,
companies,
government,
MCF and LSP
Online
Survey on
management
and
organization
of OYE
Moderate
Stakeholder mapping and analysis is conducted in all countries and
regions of OYE. Management responses (process of selection
followed, clear criteria set, contracts with partners signed) towards
different stakeholder groups are not systematically followed in OYE
leading for 50% of the time to the involvement of (un)suitable
companies, LSPs, government authorities/institutions and broader
partners.
Poor
Stakeholder mapping and analysis is partly conducted in all
countries and regions of OYE. Management responses (process of
selection followed, clear criteria set, contracts with partners signed)
towards different stakeholder groups are unclear and unstructured
within OYE leading for the majority (>50%) of times to the
involvement of unsuitable companies, LSPs, government
authorities/institutions and broader partners.
2. Effectiveness: The extent to which the project is attaining its objectives.
111
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
2. 1 To what extent is
OYE achieving its output
targets? 3 To what extent
are the outputs
contributing to the
desired outcomes?
Analysis should show
how does this vary for:
Women and men?
Different countries?
Different sectors?
Good
>80% of feasible and planned outputs are reached compared to
OYE planning. >80% of targeted (self) employed youth and youth-
led enterprises (outcomes) are reached. Youth describe a strong
contribution from OYE to its outcomes.
Desk study:
Annual
reports M&E
Data
Interviews
with SNV
staff and
MCF
Satisfactory
70% -80% of feasible and planned outputs are reached compared
to OYE planning. >70% of targeted (self) employed youth and
youth-led enterprises (outcomes) are reached from >80%. Youth
describe a satisfactory contribution from OYE to its outcomes.
Moderate
50% - 70% of feasible and planned outputs are reached compared
to OYE planning. >60% of targeted (self) employed youth and
youth-led enterprises (outcomes) are reached from >Youth
describe a modest contribution from OYE to its outcomes.
Poor
<50% of feasible and planned outputs are reached compared to
OYE planning. >50% of targeted (self) employed youth and youth-
led enterprises (outcomes) are reached from youth indicate a
limited contribution from OYE to its outcomes.
3 To what extent are youth acquiring the desired business/technical/life skills? To what extent are youth finding employment or creating self-employment? To what extent are local training
institutions responding to youth needs and market opportunities?
112
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
2.2 Are the activities and
outputs of the project
consistent with the
overall goals and
intended impacts?
What are the strongest
and weakest components
of the OYE model4?
Good
OYE partners indicate a clear vision and joint understanding of OYE
overall objective(s) incl. its pathways of change (activity à outputs
à outcomes) and its model to achieve (self) employment. The OYE
model is effective in facilitating youth (self) employment
opportunities.
Desk study:
Annual
plans/
reports
M&E Data
Interviews
with SNV
staff, LSP
and MCF
Online
Survey on
management
and
Satisfactory
OYE partners indicate a clear vision and understanding of OYE
overall objective(s) incl. its pathways of change (activity à outputs
à outcomes) although its model to achieve (self) employment has
different perceptions among partners. The OYE model is effective in
facilitating youth (self) employment opportunities although certain
components should be enhanced.
Moderate
OYE partners indicate a vision and moderate understanding of OYE
overall objective(s) incl. its pathways of change (activity à outputs
à outcomes) and its model to achieve (self) employment is
perceived diverse among partners. The OYE model is ineffective in
facilitating youth (self) employment opportunities although there
are strong points to be kept.
4 Push-match-pull, meaningful employment, diversification of employment (“mixed livelihood”), accompaniment of LSP.
113
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
Poor
OYE partners indicate an unaligned vision and limited
understanding of OYE overall objective(s) incl. its pathways of
change (activity à outputs à outcomes) and its model to achieve
(self) employment. The OYE model is ineffective in facilitating youth
(self) employment opportunities and should be rigorously adapted.
organization
of OYE
2.3. To what extent have
the major factors
influencing the success or
challenges with
implementing this model
in Tanzania, Rwanda and
Mozambique been
addressed?
Good Interviews
with SNV
staff, LSP,
companies
Satisfactory
Moderate
Poor
3. Efficiency: Efficiency measures the outputs -- qualitative and quantitative -- in relation to the inputs.
3.1 How well is OYE
deploying its resources, Good
Organization, financial management, M&E and administration of
OYE are organized in a good and efficient manner according to the
online survey. Evaluators do not observe major unjustified
differences in expenditure information compared to budget.5 OYE
Desk study:
5 % of budget spent on programme specific expenses (>43%5) is on or above budgeted. Personnel costs are on or below budgeted (32%5). Overall budget spent for Y1 + Y2 +
Y3Q1 and Q2 is above >95%. Program delivery fee is on or below 9%5 of expenditure.
114
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
including financial,
human and time?
Is OYE being
implemented in the most
efficient way compared to
alternatives?
implementation mechanisms are flexible and able to adapt to local
context.
Financial
management
data
M&E results
data
Annual
reports
Interviews
with SNV
staff
Satisfactory
Organization, financial management, M&E and administration of
OYE are organized in a satisfactory and efficient manner according
to the online survey. Evaluators do not observe major unjustified
differences in expenditure information compared to budget. OYE
implementation mechanisms are flexible and able to adapt to local
context but could be timelier.
Moderate
Organization, financial management, M&E and administration of
OYE are organized in modest manner according to the online
survey. Evaluators do observe differences in expenditure
information compared to budget. OYE implementation mechanisms
are inflexible and not quickly able to adapt to local context.
Poor
Organization, financial management, M&E and administration of
OYE are organized in a poor and inefficient manner according to the
online survey. Evaluators do observe differences in expenditure
information compared to budget. OYE implementation mechanisms
are rigid and not quickly able to adapt to local context.
4. Impact: The positive and negative changes produced by the project, directly or indirectly, intended or
unintended
115
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
4. 1 How has the OYE
program changed youth’s
employment trajectories,
and contributed to youth
participation in the
market i.e. to what
extent do OYE youth
have an improved
economic situation after
participating in the
project?
Good
>80% of youth indicate that the OYE strongly contributed to an
improved participation in the labour market and increased
economic situation (income/assets).
FGD with
youth
Desk study:
Annual
plans/
reports
M&E Data
Interviews
with SNV
and LSP
Satisfactory
>60-80% of youth indicate that the OYE strongly contributed to an
improved participation in the labour market and increased
economic situation (income/assets).
Moderate
>40-60% of youth indicate that the OYE strongly contributed to an
improved participation in the labour market and increased
economic situation (income/assets).
Poor
<40% of youth indicate that the OYE strongly contributed to an
improved participation in the labour market and increased
economic situation (income/assets).
4.2 To what extent is the
project has realized its
objectives and intended
impact after completion
of the full five years?
Good
Satisfactory
116
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
Moderate
Poor
5. Sustainability: Whether the benefits of an activity are likely to continue after funding has been withdrawn.
5.1 To what extent is
OYE increasing interest in
youth employment
among public and private
sectors?
What are key factors that
enable/encourage private
sector companies in
Good
Both public and private sector are showing genuine continues
interest in all 3 countries in the OYE model. OYE receives
considerable exposure and is used as an example to address youth
unemployment in the 3 countries resulting into increased funding
levels.
Interviews
with LSP,
companies,
government.
Interviews
with SNV.
Satisfactory
Both public and private sector are showing genuine interest in all 3
countries in the OYE model. OYE receives exposure and is used as
an example to address youth unemployment in 2 of the 3
countries.
117
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
promoting meaningful
(self-) employment for
rural out-of-school
youth? How is OYE
leveraging these?
Moderate
Only public or private sector are showing genuine interest in the
OYE model. OYE receives exposure and is used as an example to
address youth unemployment in 1 of the 3 countries.
Annual plans
and reports.
Poor
Public and private sector are showing limited and sporadic interest
in the OYE model. OYE receives limited exposure and is not used as
an example to address youth unemployment in any country.
5.2 How well is OYE
building the capacity of
local partners?
What are the key
strengths and
weaknesses of OYE’s
local implementing
partners? How are these
contributing to/hindering
success?
Good
OYE has an agreed upon plan for the capacity development of LSP.
A capacity development plan is set up with LSPs. LSPs receive
capacity development support and progress is systematically
monitored and reported on. Budget is planned for and/or made
available to support LSPs.
Interviews
with LSPs
Interviews
with SNV
staff
Satisfactory
OYE has an agreed upon plan for capacity development of LSP. A
capacity development plan is set up with LSPs in most but not all
cases. LSPs receive capacity development support and progress is
monitored and reported on although this could be improved and be
systematic. Budget is made available to support LSPs but not
necessarily planned for.
Moderate OYE has an implicit plan for capacity development of LSP. A
capacity development plan is in most occasions not developed with
LSPs s. LSPs receive capacity development support but progress is
118
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
hardly monitored or reported on. Budget is made available to
support LSPs but not planned for.
Poor
OYE does not have a well thought through plan for capacity
development of LSP. LSPs hardly receive capacity development
support in a systematic manner and progress is not monitored or
reported on. Budget is sporadically made available to support LSPs
but is not planned for.
5.3 Ecosystem: To what
extent is there an
improved enabling
environment for youth
employment in the target
regions/countries? What
opportunities exist for
leveraging OYE for wider
impact?
Good
Partners (LSP, companies, government authorities,
education/training institutions) are supportive towards the goals of
OYE. Companies show high interest and invest with more than 50%
of their own funds/time by taking up rural-out-school youth. Labour
market (rules and regulations for SME business registration and
execution) is conducive in the target regions/countries. This is the
case in all three countries and sectors.
Interviews
with LSP,
companies,
MCF, SNV.
Desk study
on plans and
reports
Satisfactory
Partners (LSP, companies, government authorities,
education/training institutions) are supportive towards the goals of
OYE. Companies show interest but are cautious to invest with more
than 50% of their own funds/time by taking up rural-out-school
youth. Labour market (rules and regulations for SME business
registration and execution) is conducive in the target
regions/countries. This is the case in 2 of the 3 countries and 3 of
the 4 sector projects.
119
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
Moderate
Partners (LSP, companies, government authorities,
education/training institutions) are supportive towards the goals of
OYE. Companies show limited interest to invest with more than
50% of their own funds/time by taking up rural-out-school youth.
Labour market (rules and regulations for SME business registration
and execution) is non-conducive in the target regions/countries. It
is conducive in 1 of the 3 countries and 2 of the 4 sector projects.
Poor
Partners (LSP, companies, government authorities,
education/training institutions) are not supportive towards the
goals of OYE. Companies show limited interest to invest with more
than 50% of their own funds/time by taking up rural-out-school
youth. Labour market (rules and regulations for SME business
registration and execution) is non-conducive in the target
regions/countries. It is conducive in 1 of the 3 countries and 1 of
the 4 sector projects only.
5.4 How is OYE
contributing to national
level policies, curricula
and focusing broader
attention for rural youth
Good
In each country and sector OYE is interacting and requested to
interact on national policy level regarding rural youth/vulnerable
unemployment. Concrete examples can be given on this. OYE has
developed a strategy with clear objectives on this topic and is
actively working towards reaching these targets making budgets,
staff and time available.
Interviews
with LSP,
companies,
MCF, SNV.
120
Evaluation questions Judgment
Description Sources of
Verification
unemployment/vulnerabl
e employment?
Satisfactory
In each country but not all sectors OYE is interacting, but not
necessarily requested, to interact on national policy level regarding
rural youth/vulnerable unemployment. Concrete examples can be
given on this. OYE has developed a strategy with clear objectives
on this topic although working towards reaching these targets
making budget, staff and time available could be enhanced.
Desk study
on plans and
reports
Moderate
In 50% of the projects OYE is interacting, but not requested, to
interact on national policy level regarding rural youth/vulnerable
unemployment. Concrete examples are limited. OYE has developed
an implicit but not explicit strategy with clear objectives on this
topic while making budget, staff and time available could be
strongly enhanced.
Poor
In one sector or one project OYE is interacting, but not requested,
to interact on national policy level regarding rural youth/vulnerable
unemployment. Concrete examples are few. OYE has developed an
implicit but not explicit strategy but this is not translated into clear
objectives or availability of budget, staff and time.
121
Annex 6. Itinerary and the people met
6.1. Rwanda:
Day Action Time Participants
Day 1:
2nd of April
Introduction to OYE management 09h00-09h30 CD, Program manager and staff
Workshop with OYE team 09h30-13h00 OYE team and LSPs
Lunch 13h00-14h00
Session LSPs 14h00-17h00 LSPs : G-micro Consult, GLES, IB&C, RECONS,
INDIGO
Day 2:
3rd of April
Departure from Kigali to KIREHE District 06h30
Meeting with KIREHE local authorities 09h00 09h00 LGAs, Concerned LSP?
Meeting KOIKIK Biogas cooperative
technicians at a biogas site (Gatore sector)
11h00 YLcoop. groups Concerned LSPs
Lunch 12h00-13h00 Kirehe
Meeting KOIKIK Biogas cooperative
technicians
13h30 YSLAs and YLcoop. Members (with IWAWA youth)
122
Day Action Time Participants
Departure from Kirehe to Kigali 15:30
Day 3:
4th of April
Departure from Kigali to Rulindo District 07h30 Employed IGNITE youth and Coops members
group, Concerned LSPs
Meeting with Rulindo cooperative (Biogas &
Solar) – Masoro sector
8h30
Departure from Kigali to Rulindo District 10h00
Ignite store – Bushoki sector 11h00
Lunch 12h00-13h00 Kigali
Departure from Kigali to Bugesera District 13h00
Meeting OYE Biogas entrepreneur Vedaste
together with BUGESERA biogas cooperative
technicians (Rilima sector)
14h30 YLE and coop. groups , Concerned LSPs
Departure from Bugesera to Kigali 16h00
Day 2: Departure from Kigali to Musanze District 07h00 Self-employed youth and YLEs groups
123
Day Action Time Participants
3rd of April Meeting Mobisol youth at the MOBISOL SHOP
(Muhoza sector)
09h30 Concerned LSPs
Meeting OYE Biogas entrepreneur Emerita
together with MUSANZE biogas cooperative
president (Kimonyi sector)
11h30
Lunch 13h00-14h00 Musanze
Departure from Musanze 14h00 YSLAs and YL coop. members, Concerned LSPs
Meeting with ICS cooperative RUVICO –
Rugerero sector
15h00
To Rubavu District (Hotel) 16:30
Day 3:
4th of April
Departure from Rubavu to Ngororero District 07h00
Meeting with Ngororero local authorities 10h00 LGAs
Lunch 12h00-13h00
Meeting with ICS cooperative HUGUKA
MUBUMBYI – Kageyo sector
13h30 YL coop. members
Concerned LSPs
124
Day Action Time Participants
Departure from NGORORERO to Kigali 15h30
Day 4:
5th of April
Meeting officials 08h00-10h00 REG (local)
Meeting the PSPs and beneficiaries 10h00-11h00
Maureen and
Joost
Mobisol, Concerned LSP
10h00-11h00
Maureen and
Joost
Ignite, Concerned LSP
12h00-13h00 Lunch
13h00-15h00
Maureen
DRIMEX, Concerned LSP
Day 5:
6th of April
Other stakeholders 08h30-10h00 Financial institutions: Business Development Fund
Review of M&E framework and database 10h00-12h00 M&E manager, volunteers
Lunch 12h00-14h00
Presentation of rough findings 14h00-17h00 OYE management and staff and LSPs
125
6.2. Tanzania:
Morogoro
Day Action Time Participants
Monday
14th of May
Journey Dar - Morogoro by SNV vehicle 06h00-11h00 Sheki and Maureen
Debrief with SAT 13h30-15h30 Janet and Rashid; Emma & Chacha ; Maureen
Debrief with MWAYODEO 15h30-17h30 Venance and Prisca ; Emma & Chacha ; Maureen
Tuesday
15th of May
Equity Bank 08h00-09h00 Kulwa Mabuti, Fredrick Limbeghala ; Emma &
Chacha ; Maureen
Sun-King 09h00-10h00 Salim Juma, Prisca, Spencer, Emma and Maureen
WCDO Melela ward
Mesobi group (YLE solar)
Magole group (YLE ICS)
Melela group (YLE ICS)
09h30-12h00 Gloria Mundo; Venance ; Emma & Chacha
Maureen
Wednesday
16th of May
Nguvukazi (town) – horticulture [women only
group]
08h00-10h00 Chacha and Rashid; Maureen
126
Day Action Time Participants
Tuinuane (Mikese) – poultry & maize 10h00-12h00 Chacha, Rashi, Maureen, Emma
Solar grid 14h00-15h00 Edwin Kiemba; Maureen
Thursday 17th
of May
Classroom session with Mwayodeo and SAT
at the SAT premises
09h00-12h00 Venance, Spencer, Prisca; Janet and Rashid
Maureen
Departure for Dar 12h30-18h00 Sheki and Maureen
Arusha and Moshi
Day Action Time Participants
Sunday 20
May
Arrival at Moshi 17h00-23h30 Maureen
Monday 21
May
Meeting the Director of SIDO 08h00 Maureen. Jessica and Richard
Travel to Manga 08h30 Jessica, Richard, Alex and Maureen
Interview Ngosha group (ICS group) 10h00 Jessica, Richard, Alex and Maureen
Meeting Francisca: YLE in food value addition 12h00 Jessica, Richard, Alex and Maureen
127
Day Action Time Participants
Interview UWAVISHE group (Agriculture) 14h00 Jessica, Richard and Maureen
Travel Arusha 17h30
Tuesday 22
May
MOBISOL (They are yet to confirm on timing) 08h00 Jessica, Maureen and Richard
Interview HomeVeg 10h00 Mussa Mvungi, Daniel, Rich, Jessica, Richard, and
Maureen
Travel to group 11h00
Interview Karangai Youth Group (Agriculture) 12h00 Daniel, Rich, Jessica, Richard, and Maureen
Travel to group 14h00
Interview Kwa ugoro Youth group
(Agriculture)
15h00 Daniel, Rich, Jessica, Richard, and Maureen
Wednesday 23
May
Session with the LSPs 09h00 Alex and Daniel, Maureen and Richard
Return to Dar 13h00-18h00
128
6.3. Mozambique:
Date Activity Place Time Participants
09/04/2018 Meeting with Program Manager and OYE
staff
Workshop with OYE team and LSPs
Session with OYE LSPs
Nampula SNV
Office
08:00 -17:30 Evaluators,
OYE Staff and
LSPs
Visiting a young lady involved in a pig
rearing intervention in Namialo
Namialo
7:30 – 08:30
Meeting with Amarula Farms management Namialo 08:45 -9:30
Visiting youth involved in sesame and mung
beans (linkage with Amarula farms
9:30 – 10:30
Visiting youth doing fruit tree growing and
horticulture
Namirica 10:45 – 11:30
Meeting with Monapo district administrator
and District Youth Council.
Monapo 12:00 – 13:00
Lunch hour Monapo 13:00 – 14:00
129
10/04/2018
Visiting a youth association involved in
poultry keeping, sweet potato, fruit orchard
growing and YSLA (Youth Savings and
Lending Association)
Meeting some drop-outs
Visiting a young entrepreneur (Youth led
enterprise) who benefitted from financing
from a Micro-finance institution GAPI
Monapo
14:00 -16:00
Evaluators,
OYE Staff
Youth
11/04/2018
Meeting a young employee at Novos
Horizontes who benefitted from the OYE
Internship program
Rapale 07:00- 7:45
Evaluators,
OYE staff and youth
Visiting a young lady- Youth led enterprise Rapale 08:00 – 09:00
Meeting a young poultry keeper who is
linked to the market (Novos Horizontes).
Rapale 9:30- 10:15
Meeting a youth led enterprise made up of
5 youth involved in horticulture.
Namiconha
Ribaué
11:30 – 12:30
Meeting with the president of the District
Youth Council (CDJ) and the District
Administrator
Namiconha
Ribaué
13:00 -14:00
§ Lunch hour Ribaué 14:00 – 14:30
130
Meeting some drop outs in Ribaué district Ribaué sede 14:30 -15:00
Visiting youth engaged in the production of
Chili pepper linked to Matharia
Empreendimentos
Ribaué - Matharia 15:30 -16:15
12/04/2018 Meeting with Provincial Directorate of Youth
and Sport
Meeting with National Institute for
Professional Employment (INEP)
Meeting with Horfpec
Meeting with UBS
Meeting CIP (International Sweet Potato
Centre)
Meeting with ITTA
Nampula city
08:00 – 17:30
Evaluators,
OYE staff and partners
13/04/2018 Meeting with GAPI
Review of the M&E framework and database
Presentation of rough findings
Nampula city 08:00 – 17:30 Evaluators, OYE staff and
partners
131
Annex 7: Youth reached
132
Annex 8: ToR for OYE MCF
Application deadline 22. Dec
Ad ID: 888319
Posted at: Friday, 09:27
Details Application deadline 2017-12-22
Business / Employer name: SNV Tanzania
Job categories: Research, Monitoring & Evaluation
Job Role: Experienced
Position Type: Consultant
Organization Type: NGO
Location Kinondoni, Masaki, Dar Es Salaam
Description
EVALUATION TERMS OF REFERENCE
I. PROJECT TO BE EVALUATED
Project Name: Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE)
Project Location Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania
Project Budget US$14.2 M
Project Start and End Dates: August 2013 – July 2018
Project Goals and Objectives:
The project aims to achieve access to (self-) employment and business opportunities in
agriculture and renewable energy sectors for 20,500 young women and men.
Implementing Agency and Partners: SNV Netherlands Development Organization
Evaluation Type: Final evaluation – dissemination of lessons learned
Evaluation Budget: US$40,000 (including consultants’ fee and field visits
(Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda).
Evaluation Timeframe: January – March 2018
133
II. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
SNV is an international not-for-profit development organisation, working in 36 of the
poorest countries worldwide, including 17 countries in Sub Saharan Africa. We focus on
Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene. SNV’s strategy
addresses the following key elements: Inclusive development listens to and engages
with people living in poverty, and underprivileged categories of the population such as
young women and men. Realizing inclusive and sustained development at scale requires
systemic change in sector performance and promoting equality. SNV supports local
ownership by strengthening the capacities of local stakeholders in development
processes for and on behalf of the poor. SNV uses its long-term local presence and
networks in countries to support contextualized solutions.
Mastercard Foundation (the Foundation) is a global, private foundation based in Toronto,
Canada. The Foundation advances youth learning and promotes financial inclusion to
catalyze prosperity in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Programs supported by
the Foundation aim to expand access to learning, employment, entrepreneurship and
financial services. For more information, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org.
III. PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE) project was designed by SNV
Netherlands Development Organisation in close consultation with the Mastercard
Foundation. The primary objective of OYE is to identify 20,500 rural out-of-school youth
and train them in market-relevant skills, thus improving their employability. It is
estimated that around 17,630 youth will access (self-) employment and 400 new youth-
led enterprises will be established. OYE aims to achieve this by improving the skills of
youth (push factor), linking them to market opportunities for employment and enterprise
development (match factor) in growth sectors that have concrete potential for (self-)
employment creation (pull factor). Since the start of the program in 2013, OYE has been
implemented in Mozambique (focus on Agriculture), Rwanda (Renewable Energy) and
Tanzania (Agriculture and Renewable Energy).
In 2016, the OYE mid-term evaluation was undertaken. This was a thorough exercise,
implemented in all three countries with extensive field work combined with a desk study
of project documentation. The complete mid-term evaluation report including all
findings, lessons, recommendations with the underlying evidence collected by the
consultants, will be one of the key documents for the final evaluation desk study. The
mid-term evaluation was structured by key evaluation/learning questions and organized
according to DAC criteria, namely: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and
sustainability.
134
IV. PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION
The final evaluation marks the final year of this five-year project. Building on the
extensive work and outcomes of the mid-term evaluation (completed in October 2016),
the final evaluation will focus on the impact and sustainability of the program. In pursuit
of understanding the outcomes, longer term impact of the program and its future
trajectory, the final evaluation will also be expected to build off of the findings and
recommendations from the mid-term evaluation listed in the section above.
Across the board, the final evaluation is expected to pay special attention to the
accessibility and attractiveness of the program for young women, as well as to the levels
of success they have been able to obtain.
The program has produced an extensive range of qualitative data, including youth
stories and testimonies, testimonies from private sector and other stakeholders, as well
as video documentaries.
V. AUDIENCE
The primary audiences for the evaluation are the Mastercard Foundation and SNV, who
will use the evaluation’s outcomes to inform their respective Youth Employment
portfolios.
VI. TENTATIVE TIMELINE FOR ACTIVITIES AND DELIVERABLES
The deadline for submission of a technical (approach, methodology, work plan) and
financial proposal is end December 2017. The evaluator will propose the details of the
methodology for the evaluation as part of the proposal to SNV. The selection of the
consultant is expected to be completed by the first week of January 2018. The
assignment will start upon signature of the contract.
Proposed key components of the evaluation are as follows:
Key Activities/Deliverables Dates:
• Evaluation launch meeting: SNV, the Mastercard Foundation, and the consultant
will hold a virtual meeting to make finalize the details of the evaluation proposal
and work plan. This phase will also include the detailed list of documents for the
desk study. 15 January 2018
• Desk Study: The evaluators will perform a review of documents and data,
including project proposal, (country) annual plans, (country and consolidated)
progress reports, budgets and financial reports. The mid-term evaluation report
and the management response to its recommendations constitute key documents
for analysis. 22 January – 23 February 2018
135
• Inception Report: The desk study will inform the finalization of the evaluation
design and field work schedule, which will be submitted to SNV and the
Mastercard Foundation in an inception report, which must be approved before
field work begins. 1 March 2018
• Field visits for familiarization: As the mid-term evaluation already included vast,
intensive and elaborate field work, whereby youth and other stakeholders have
been interviewed, a repetition of such field research is not deemed necessary.
Instead, the evaluators will undertake short field visits in order to familiarize
themselves with actions and actors on the ground in the three countries. March
2018
• Draft Final Report May 2018
• Final Report: The final report will include the final evaluation and all incorporated
recommendations, supporting tables and graphs, visuals and appendices as per
the requirements. June 2018
VII. GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EVALUATION
SNV and Mastercard Foundation reserve the right to negotiate changes regarding
proposed approach and methodology as presented in the winning proposal.
Subsequently, the lead evaluator is responsible for the preparation of a work plan for
desk study, and field visits. Following the desk study, the consultant will submit an
inception report with details for the field visits, that will require formal approval from The
Foundation and SNV.
SNV will ensure availability of relevant data for the desk study. SNV in the participating
countries will provide logistic support for field visits.
SNV OYE management team approves the final evaluation document and will engage in
the production of the publication for external use.
VIII. BUDGET
The total available budget for the final evaluation is US$40,000. The breakdown of the
budget to be proposed by the candidate-consultant will contain the following
components:
Consultants’ fee. Estimation of costs for an at least four months’ engagement, consisting
of the following tasks:
• Desk study
• Inception report
• Field work
• Final report writing
The candidate proposes the size of the team, which may not necessarily exceed two
experts. Fees will include taxes.
136
Field visits. Local travel in Tanzania; travels to Rwanda (Kigali) and Mozambique
(Nampula).
The bidding consultants will tentative plan for these components (desk study, field visits,
learning events, reporting and publication) in their proposals, taking into account the
available budget space indicated above. Full details on the field visits will be presented in
the inception report after the desk study.
The approach for collecting and analysing data should be developed using the most cost-
efficient combination of methods combining international and local staff. SNV will be
looking for a high-quality process and end product at the keenest price to ensure that
the best value is obtained from limited funds. It should in any case be noted that
proposals going beyond US$40,000 would not be considered.
IX. SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS
The consultant shall will be paid as outlined in the table below.
Deliverable % of professional fees to be paid:
• Inception report 40%
• Draft final report 30%
• Final report 30%
TOTAL 100%
X. PROFILE OF THE EVALUATOR(s)
SNV is looking for Tanzania-based consultant(s), with international experience. The
evaluator(s) must demonstrate:
1. Extensive experience in evaluation, including in designing and leading
evaluations;
2. Strong analytical and writing skills and knowledge of qualitative and quantitative
evaluation methodologies;
3. Extensive experience within the field of international development cooperation in
Africa;
4. Track record of evaluations in (youth) employment development/market
development/private sector in Africa;
5. Advanced degree in development economics, business, agriculture, renewable
energy and/ or other relevant fields;
6. Ability to facilitate and relate to stakeholders at multiple levels (e.g., Mastercard
Foundation and partner staff, NGOs, public and private employer organizations,
youth participants, etc.)
137
7. Sensitivity to cultural/historical context in the data collection process
8. Demonstrated ability to thoughtfully bring youth/client experience to the forefront
of the evaluation.
9. Fluency in reading and writing English required.
XI. PROPOSALS
Through this request for proposals SNV invites qualified service providers to submit
proposals that include:
• A cover letter showing expression of interest
• A five pages (maximum) proposal, explaining:
o Understanding of the evaluation purpose
o Proposed methodology approach, broad outline of methods to be
employed and description of roles and responsibilities of the evaluators
o Short introductions of proposed staff
• Financial proposal / budget and suggested number of days per phase
• Annexes:
• Evaluator(s)’s competencies and proof thereof (include 2 evaluation/research
reports related to the evaluation subject)
• Evaluators’ CV
• Company profile, Legal requirements: TIN no. and Registration Certificates
• A declaration of no conflict of interests by persons and organizations involved
in the evaluation.
138
Annex 9: Recommendations of MTR
It is advised that OYE starts from the market opportunities at all times so to attract
more attention from companies and be more relevant to OYE youth. It is advised to
explicitly analyse if the market is accessible for OYE youth activities and if there is a
“pull” factor. The presence of market growth, or previous connections with SNV, does
not automatically mean that companies are interested to work with, or absorb, OYE
youth in their operations. Continues relationship building by OYE and creating trust is
imperative so to generate access to the private sector companies. It is recommended
that OYE makes this investment by systematically creating new and maintaining existing
relationships with private sector companies. To do this time, effort and funds are to be
planned for. (1)
The evaluation recommends conducting in-depth analyses of the subsectors that OYE is
currently supporting. Such a microanalysis can help to fully understand the youth
economic empowerment throughout the particular value chain, to what extent this is
being realized, and possibly reveal additional opportunities within the value chain. Doing
this analysis will shed light on competition within a geographical area or on opportunities
for networking and exchange between small (youth-led) enterprises. Taking into
consideration local consumption patterns, it might reveal the need and (seasonal
market) opportunities for development of, for example, crop storage and conservation
resulting in new employment opportunities. An analysis of organic horticulture could
support a need for specific fertilizers and insecticides, which can be a business
opportunity for a small new youth-led enterprise. Similarly, investigating existing or
potential electricity needs in a specific context might bring out opportunities for solar
businesses. (2)
In line with the above the evaluation recommends widening the choices or opportunities
within the current subsectors and value chains. It is advised to hereby go beyond the
primary production processes towards pre-production or post-processing opportunities
such as supplying, packaging, storage, transport, promotion/marketing, customer care,
and/or sales. This is especially important for OYE women as these opportunities are in
line with their gender norms and values, as shown by for example the poultry
outgrowing schemes (supply from the household) and solar (marketing and sales). To
broaden the engagement of OYE in the value chains, a gender analysis of the market,
via close consultation with female youth (and their husbands), is recommended in order
to identify new opportunities for women that match their gender values and role in
society. It is likely that these opportunities are close to the household, less labour
intensive, and beyond the primary production processes. To analyse these new
139
opportunities it is advised to reach out to women-led private sector initiatives or women
employment programs, in the region, in order to learn. (3)
Matching opportunities need to be present before OYE trainings are to start. It is
recommended that matching conditions (time, funds) are to be agreed upon, with the
private sector, credit institutions, LGA and other stakeholders before “push” activities
(training) take place. These conditions relate to the provision of start-up material, access
to finance opportunities, and systematic mentoring support. These conditions (who is
providing how much by when) are to be formalized and agreed upon on paper. A variety
of start-up products is promoted to avoid market saturation i.e. variety of solar systems,
different ICS. The contribution of the youth (group), so to generate commitment and
ownership needs to be an integral part of these condition agreements. It is advised that
the project adds-on already existing agreements in order to make matching happen. The
project should not sponsor or create matching via its own funds as this is not market
driven and therefore unsustainable. (4)
It is recommended to capture and document evidences of the added value of OYE youth
towards profitability and productivity of companies, so to attract interest of new and
existing credit institutions, private sector companies, investors (business angles) and
national government. Within the current project phase, or in the context of a project
extension, OYE is recommended to reach out to other/new private sector stakeholders
either directly or through private sector and employer associations, in order to create
more income opportunities for youth. From these experiences it is recommended to
develop a clear inclusive business strategy, based on existing understanding, adaptable
to the different sizes and sectors that OYE engages in i.e. SMEs, family businesses and
larger production companies, and use this to intensify the engagement and relationship
building with the private sector (5).
When starting implementation of activities it is recommended to set-up, roll-out and
monitor a chain/pathway of push-match-pull activities within a 2-3 months’ time-frame.
This in order to boost the step from training to employment and youth led enterprise
development, as well as the continued engagement of youth with OYE. Emphasis should
lie on the completion of the pathway and requires a clear target setting, with a step by
step approach based on strong market demand. Next to this, the evaluation
recommends OYE for seeking out receptive and motivated youth within the existing
youth selection criteria and keep on targeting those as a quick win strategy. (6)
It is advised that OYE staff and LSPs should primarily focus (and re-allocate funds if need
be) towards the continuous (technical, business, social life skill) and systematic guidance
and mentoring of youth groups, especially young women, after initial trainings. This
140
requires a practical, dynamic, pro-active and personal approach, understanding the
processes of starting a business in the value chain and country context. To do this, a
capacity assessment of existing LSPs on the skill set needed to guide and mentor youth
groups is recommended. These skills include but are not limited to coaching,
communication, understanding group dynamics, and advisory on business planning and
financial management. Based on the results either a personalized capacity building plan
of existing LSPs, recruitment of new LSPs, and/or termination of LSP contracts is
recommended. It is suggested to learn from or use existing business development
service providers such as but not limited to business-in-a-box-program or the Inclusive
Business Accelerator which are both fitting targeted OYE youth situations. (7)
While LSPs are advised to support trained OYE youth, it is recommended to OYE to
provide systematic support, performance monitoring and quality assurance to LSPs as
they are critical for the quality of OYE its interventions and results. To do this a further
reduction in salary budget in Tanzania as planned for year 4 and 5 is advised to be
revisited between MCF and SNV. In addition, annual performance-based contracts
(without quarterly renewal) to LSPs clearly outlining expectations, instalments for
payments, and support given by OYE is recommended as to avoid delays in
implementation. (8)
In addition to the self-help credit clubs and public youth funds via LGAs, OYE should
continue to strategically work towards linking youth-led enterprises with private
financing institutions. One approach can be that OYE works to initially connecting few,
but motivated and strong, youth groups, each in different subsectors, with appropriate
financing institutions. Based on these trials, models can be established and promoted
internally to the youth groups and externally to the financial institutions. (9)
To enhance learning and exchange among youth it is recommended to geographically
concentrate OYE activities so to allow for peer-to-peer learning and attract new youth.
This concentration and learning can be across value-chains and sectors in order to avoid
market saturation. To do this, it is recommended that OYE staff accompany LSPs and
identify performing youth entrepreneurs, and to prepare these “youth
champions/business heroes” for peer training and mentoring of other youth groups
nearby. This is especially an opportunity for young women who could become a role
model for others. Youth can thereby play a role next to the LSPs in supporting and
learning from each other. This geographic concentration will most likely also reduce
fragmented support/investments of OYE/LSPs, and as such enhance their
efficiency/effectiveness. Moreover it may also create a snowball effect among private
sector companies. (10)
141
To capture impact level results, the concept of Most Significant Change Stories could be
used to inspire/ attract new youth via among others the OYE Africa Facebook page, and
lobby with national government to attract interest and investment to address youth
unemployment challenges. It is recommended to link up with development partners such
as NGO’s and ILO/UNESCO/UNICEF to lobby on governmental level, either in a direct
way to politicians, or in an informal way, e.g. through media, as has been done in
Rwanda. (11)
142
Annex 10: Result Framework
RESULTS FRAMEWORK FOR THE
YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES IN AGRIBUSINESS AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY PROJECT IN MOZAMBIQUE, RWANDA AND TANZANIA
GOAL/IMPACT: Improved livelihood for 17,500 youths, ways of living and asset creation.
Systemic environment: improved vocational skills delivery and access to employment for young people.
Indicators
Ø % increase in youth income level
Ø # of people benefiting from improved youth employment.
Ø # of training providers (TVETs & BDS) delivering (market) relevant skills development
Medium-term objective 1: Expand employment and self-employment for 17,500 youth
Outcome 1: Youth accessed employment
Indicators
1a. # of youth who are employed in renewable energy and agro-
enterprises
1b # of young farmers within established farmer organisations with formal business relations with agro-business e.g. contract farming
1c. # of jobs created in new youth led enterprises
OUTPUT 1 – 20,500 youth are
provided with basic training in
technical, life and business skills
Indicators
1.1 # of youth who finished basic soft
skills training (life, leadership, ICT, finance, entrepreneurship and career
planning)
1.2 # of youth who finished technical
training (farmer field schools, renewable energy, agro-business).
1.3. # of youth trained in business skills.
OUTPUT 2 – 17,500 skilled youth
matched with market
opportunities
Indicators
2.1 # youth received career guidance tools
2.2 #of youth placed in internship and
on the job training
2.3 # of companies and youth
participating in local career/job fairs
2.4 # of young farmers linked to
processing industries through business
contracts
OUTPUT 3 – 400 youth prepared for setting up new
enterprises
Indicators
3.1 # of young entrepreneurs coached in setting up new business
3.2 # of youth with financial management skills
3.3 # of youth participating in Business Plan competitions
3.4 # of young entrepreneurs with access to BDS and financial
products
Medium-term objective 2: Establishment of 400 new youth-led
Enterprises in renewable energy (biogas construction,
solar retail, ICS production) and agro-business
Outcome 2: 400 Youth-led enterprises businesses (processing,
trading) established
Indicators
2a. # of youth who started a new business (enterprises)
2b. # of business registered
2c. # of youth led enterprises
143
Main activities
YOUTH IDENTIFICATION
1.1 Establish baseline for youth identification.
1.2 Selection and preparation of training
institutes (schools, TVET centres) for skills and career development
1.3 Develop / adapt curricula for technical skills
and business, life and leadership development
1.4 Selection of youth for skills development
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
1.5 Skills training in life and leadership, ICT, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and career
planning
1.6 Technical skills training (related to specific
agriculture value chains and renewable energy
subsectors)
1.7 Provision of farmer business skills training in
farmer field schools
1.8 Aptitude testing for selection of youth who aspire to become entrepreneurs in agro-business
and renewable energy (including business idea
competition)
1.9 Business skills training of young entrepreneurs (administration, marketing,
regulations, office management).
1.10 Establish e-/mobile-based peer-to-peer networks for youth participating in skills
development and future employability trajectories.
Main activities
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT through MARKET
EXPOSURE
2.1 Learning visits by young commercial farmers groups to existing agribusiness and
agro processing companies
2.2 Identify existing enterprises that can create meaningful youth internship
placements
2.3 Internship placement and on-the-job- training of skilled youth in existing
enterprises
2.4 Internship placement of aspiring agro- and renewable energy entrepreneurs in
existing companies
2.5 Apply e-/mobile based networks for peer to peer learning
MATCH CAREER ORIENTATION with
MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
2.6 Career guidance and mentoring of skilled
youth for employment in agro-business and renewable energy
2.7 Coaching of youth in job seeking
2.8 Apply e-/mobile based networks for
career guidance and monitoring of employed youth
Main activities
ENHANCED YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
capacity in the market
3.1 Support youth in identifying employment opportunities in the market
3.2 Coach Young farmer’s cooperatives in
establishing themselves as enterprises and negotiating contract farming arrangements
with larger companies
YOUTH-LED ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
3.3 Help selected young entrepreneurs in developing a business plan
3.4 Support the establishment of youth led
agri-businesses and renewable energy enterprises.
3.5 Coaching of new youth led enterprises in
access to financial services
3.6 Business coaching of new youth-led
enterprises, improving their capacity to engage with exporters, business networking
and export trade intelligence
144
Annex 11: Theory of Change according to MDF
145
Annex 12: People met
Rwanda Tanzania Mozambique
Renewable Energy Agriculture Renewable Energy Agriculture
LSP • G-micro Consult, • SAT • Mwayodeo • Mariamo Bai Tarmamade
• GLES, • SIDO Kilimanjaro • TACADECO • Alfeu Sulaha
• IB&C, • Franco Julio
• RECONS, • Merson Muatiua
• INDIGO • Derson Momade Aly
LGA • Kirehe local
authorities
• President of The District Youth
Council
• Ngororero local
authorities
• District Administrator of Ribaue
district
National or local
government
• REG • Ward Community
Development Officer
in Melela
• INEP
• Department of Youth and Sport
Nampula
146
Rwanda Tanzania Mozambique
Renewable Energy Agriculture Renewable Energy Agriculture
• Director of Agriculture at District
level –Ilha de Mocambique
PSPs • Mobisol • HomeVeg
• SunKing
• CIP
• Ignite • Mobisol • HORFPEC
• DRIMEX • Amarula Farms
• Matharya Empreendimentos
FI • BDF • Equity bank
• GAPI
• FAIJ
Youth groups • KOIKIK Biogas
cooperative
• Nguvukazi (town) –
horticulture [women
only group
• Mesobi group (YLE
solar)
• Youth group (women) in hot
chili
• IWAWA youth • Tuinuane (Mikese) –
poultry & maize
• Magole group (YLE
ICS)
• Horticulture producing
enterprise Ribaue
147
Rwanda Tanzania Mozambique
Renewable Energy Agriculture Renewable Energy Agriculture
• Rulindo cooperative
(Biogas & Solar)
• UWAVISHE group
(Agriculture)
• Melela group (YLE
ICS)
• Antonio Jamal OYE entrepreneur
• BUGESERA biogas
cooperative
• Francisca: YLE in
food value addition Mesobi group (YLE
solar)
• Associacao inovadora
• Mobisol youth at the
MOBISOL SHOP
(Muhoza sector)
• Karangai Youth
Group (Agriculture)
• Ngosha group (ICS
group)
• Namialo and Monapo (Pig
keeping intervention)
• Biogas entrepreneur
and biogas
technicians (Rilima
sector)
• Kwa ugoro Youth
group (Agriculture • Amurla farms in-grower youth
• Biogas entrepreneur
Emerita together
with MUSANZE
biogas cooperative
president (Kimonyi
sector)
• Houth group involved in Fruit
trees
• ICS cooperative
RUVICO – Rugerero
sector
148
Rwanda Tanzania Mozambique
Renewable Energy Agriculture Renewable Energy Agriculture
• ICS cooperative
HUGUKA MUBUMBYI
– Kageyo sector